The Door in the Sky
by DarthGogeta
Summary: A fanfiction I started in deviantART that was popular with my friends. Get ready for an exciting adventure with Mario and the crew! Cast of my Heroes: Mario, Geno, Link, Soulola, RAWR, Lupo Greene (OC 1), Vivian (Paper Mario TTYD), Patricia Wagon (Mighty Switch Force!), Jaraberutzu Akira (OC 2) and Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra (THE DEMON QUEEN [OC])! Enjoy!
1. 0: Prologue

**Prologue**

YEAR STAR STAR, MONTH MOON:

Mario, usually a happy and joyful young man, is awfully bored around his house in the Mushroom Kingdom. He has absolutely nothing to do. He's read all the books in his house and wore himself out exercising his jumping and hammering skills. His brother, Luigi, keeps on nagging Mario to do something that Luigi will like to see. Mario simply shrugs off Luigi's requests, believing they do not matter to him in the slightest.

The reason why Mario is so down lately is because he misses all of the thrills he had with all of his friends in Rogueport, a savage badland of the Mushroom Kingdom. For Mario, it was a place with an exciting thrill at every corner. Many foes crossed his path; ensuring battles were everywhere he roamed. Mario was a kind, peaceful man, and his friends all learned from him, and became some of the most idolized people in the Mushroom Kingdom's history. They made this adventure one of his most memorable.

Goombella, a smart and sassy Goomba girl, helped him defeat powerful enemies in battle by tattling strengths and weaknesses. She was quite the smart one, indeed. She knew much about the areas Mario and company explored, and even gave hints when Mario was stumped.

Koops, a shy Koopa from Petalburg, was a great help too; he helped Mario acquire important items and equipment that was out of his own reach. In battle, he could attack with style and power; even protect Mario when he needed it most!

Flurrie, a Wind Sprit who lived in the Boggly Woods, came in handy when dire times were at hand. Flurrie's magical wind could reveal secrets not visible to the naked eye, allowing Mario to progress further during his adventure. Her days in the spotlight also gave her the training she needed in battle. By learning to use her massive body to slam opponents down, she became great in the spotlight, using her abilities to the fullest.

Torashi, a dark blue, baby Yoshi that hatched during Mario's adventures in the Glitz Pit, is certainly one with that 'tough guy' attitude. When in need, Torashi helped Mario glide across chasms and pits to advance to the next area. When Mario needed to be faster, he hopped on Torashi and zoomed his way through, when it could have taken much longer otherwise. In battle, he could ground pound enemies quickly and successfully. When he was in danger, he could summon a massive horde of Yoshis to trample the enemy quickly.

Vivian, a shadow of unknown origins, enjoys Mario's company the most; Mario and his friends being some of the only people who were ever nice to her (it is said that she even has a crush on him currently). Her fiery magic could burn enemies to a crisp, quickly clearing the way to the Crystal Stars, powerful items that Mario used to save the Mushroom Kingdom from a virtually unstoppable end. Her ability to hide in the shadows helped Mario very much; avoiding detection from dangerous enemies like the X-Nauts, A group of evil beings bent on world domination, which was eventually defeated by our young hero, Mario.

Let's not forget about our powerhouse Admiral Bobbery, an incredible Bob-Omb sailor who could blast through the strongest materials in the world to clear the way for Mario and friends. His skills in battle led the group to victory, dealing incredibly powerful explosions to enemies! This is a truly great feat for someone with a magnificent mustache of his.

Last but not least is the flirty Ms. Mowz, a Squeek thief from the Rogueport Badge Shop who could steal virtually anything. If there was something that Mario needed, Ms. Mowz could sniff it out in an instant, and help Mario find it in record time. Although not as strong as most of Mario's friends, she could daze opponents and steal the items they use in battle. She is truly a thief to be reckoned with seriously.

Mario believed that these people from Rogueport are some of his greatest allies, and kindest friends that a hero could have. He wished that he could see them again… If only there was a way for Mario to escape his house just for a moment!

"Hmm… I wonder…" Mario's words lingered throughout his mind, glaring at the harbor. He was desperate to leave, but he just could not leave Luigi by himself! He wasn't ready to fight off any invaders that might hurt him. Mario pondered for a moment; _do you think Luigi will come with me to Rogueport? I'm not sure though, because he said himself that he never wanted to return to the place again. Mama Mia, this is really starting to annoy me._ The young plumber, with his light brown mustached self, continues to the refrigerator to pull out some Fresh Juice to drink. He slowly drinks it down, but it would not help him relieve his stress.

Luigi had been reading a book in the living room, and he glanced up for a moment, noticing Mario's sorrowful expression. _Oh boy, Mario looks more upset than the last time he was on an adventure! I wonder what I should do to cheer him up. I'll go ask him what the matter is. _Luigi thought, truly believing he could actually do something for his brother. Nervous to check on Mario, Luigi tiptoes to the kitchen, pulls out a seat, and sits down next to his brother.

"Hey Bro, What's the matter? Your mustache has been drooping a lot lately. Is something wrong?" Luigi carefully asks, making sure not to anger Mario any more than he might be. Mario takes a deep breath and replies.

"Yeah, Luigi. Something IS wrong. I've been feeling incredibly down lately because of the many thrills I've had in Rogueport. Do you remember me telling you the stories of my adventures of my friends and I?" Luigi nods his head, remembering how Mario had saved the world from an impending doom. He was so proud of his older brother, and Mario's stories inspire him to be strong like him.

"Yeah, bro, I remember all of your stories, especially your adventures of the Thousand-Year door. You really loved the thrills that place gave you…" Luigi looked out to the harbor near their house, which turned his glowing smile into a depressive frown. "But unfortunately, the harbor will not take anyone out to Rogueport anymore. It's as if they locked the place from receiving any tourists, ever since that incident with that evil Grodus!"

"_Grodus…"_ Mario growled under his breath. Grodus was the one man who caused the world's end to appear. Grodus was the commander of the X-Nauts, and he abused his power by trying to resurrect the Shadow Queen, a demon that was to destroy the entire world. Fortunately, Mario and his partners defeated Grodus and the Shadow Queen, stopping the world from losing its brilliant shine that makes it such a remarkable planet. Mario did not want any memories of him brought back, but he forgives Luigi for bringing the topic into light.

Then, something truly peculiar happened that day. In the distance, Mario and Luigi hear and see Parrakarry inserting a letter into their mailbox.

"Why is here at this time? Isn't it Sunday?" Luigi asked Mario. "Yes, it is Sunday, bro! Strange…" Mario wonders what this strange letter could be, seeing that he is receiving it on a day where Parrakarry is on break. As always, Parrakarry shouts "Mail call," to the house of the Mario Brothers and leaves with amazing speed.

"Want to go check it out?" Mario asked his brother. Luigi nodded his head and the siblings both walked to their mailbox. Luigi picks up the letter and looks at the back of it, seeing who sent it.

Luigi immediately hands it to Mario. "Mario! It's from Goombella, and it's for you!" Mario suddenly feels a sense of shock and happiness at the same time. It's been eight days since he received the last letter Goombella and friends sent him. Mario wanted to open it immediately, so he dashed into his house and sat on his comfy armchair in the living room.

Mario slowly opens up the letter to see a document in Koops' handwriting. Mario was assuming that Koops wrote it for Goombella, seeing as she had no hands to write with. Mario started to read the letter from front to back.

"Dear Mario:

It's me, Goombella! I'm having Koops write you this letter for me, so expect it to be in his handwriting. How are you doing, Mario? We hope you're doing great, saving some innocent people and all. I wanted to say that we all miss you so much, and that it really frustrates us that all the ships refuse to take people in and out of Rogueport! It makes it difficult to try and find a way to meet you in person. However, we found a way to do it! There is a ship currently heading to the harbor in Toad Town! The ship should arrive at the dawn of Month Moon! It will take you to Rogueport again!"

Mario catches his breath as he reads those last few sentences. Goombella has found a way for Mario to meet all of his friends again. Mario feels like jumping for joy, but he just casts out a glowing smile and says to Luigi, "Goombella found a way into Rogueport! We can get there today!"

Luigi jumped when he heard that. He was shocked at the fact that Mario can return to his friends once again! "That's fantastic, Mario! What else does it say?" Luigi asks with curiosity. "I'm going to find out some more, and then I'll tell you," Mario replies back.

"The thing about this ship is that it will only take special tickets, not Coins. So to help you get to Rogueport, I sent you two tickets for the ferry. You can bring another person over if you want to! We really miss you, Mario, and we know how much you wanted to come back and see us. I hope that you do get this letter in time before the ferry leaves, and I hope to see you in Rogueport!

From,

Goombella and Koops, your Super-Buddies."

Mario's face was pulsing red, about to cry from the happiness that this letter has brought him. He tries to keep his feelings inward, only to start bawling a few seconds after from joy. _Oh, for crying out loud, he's crying over something that a real man would just take in!_ Luigi thought jokingly, knowing how much those letters mean to him. He handed Mario a box of tissues and Mario took a tissue. He blew his nose with all his might to clear his big, clogged nose.

Just as Goombella had said in the document, there were two tickets to Rogueport Ferry; one reserved for Mario and one extra. Mario asked his brother, "Luigi! Do you want to come with me? There's an extra ticket here for another person." Luigi simply replied, "Sorry, bro. As much as I want to, I have some of my own errands to run. The princess has me going back to Flipside to look for someone. See you around!"

"If that's what you want, bro, you got it! Thanks for considering my invitation anyway. See you later, Luigi!" Mario replied back happily. With this, Mario packed his backpack full of useful items like Fire Flowers and Ultra Mushrooms. After a few minutes, Mario was ready to go back to Rogueport! He went straight to the harbor next to his house without stopping, until he saw a Goomba who desperately needed to go to Rogueport to see his son, but had no ticket to ride on the Rogueport Ferry.

Mario felt a little bit selfish that he was bringing along two tickets with him and not even using one. Mario asked, "Would you like a ticket to Rogueport? I have an extra that I don't need." The Goomba gladly took Mario's generous offer and thanked him very much. With this, Mario can happily go to Toad Town harbor without feeling guilty at all.

The ferry was taking an absurd amount of time to arrive. It had been forty minutes already and the ferry did not arrive at the designated time. It should've been here!

_Argh, why is it taking so long for this darned ferry to appear!?_ Mario thought in frustration and impatience. The only non-heroic attribute to Mario was his inability to cope with patience. He was not at all a patient person, much unlike his friend Link, who could spend months waiting for the ferry without even getting antsy. Fortunately, the ferry appeared a few moments before Mario's pent-up frustration burst out.

"Yes! It's the Rogueport Ferry! Finally," Mario shouts to himself, while other people look at the young hero with confusion. "That man must be insane," A Goomba jokingly exclaimed to his wife. "Oh, don't push the youngling too much. He must have it hard lately. With all of Bowser's minions constantly kidnapping Princess Peach, it must be nice of him to get a vacation for once!" The Goomba's wife replied.

Mario, reserving his room on the ship, gets ready to set sail for Rogueport! He is very much tingling with excitement at this point, waiting to see all of his wonderful friends again! _At this rate, I may be able to get to Rogueport within three days. I hope they can wait that long enough for me._ Mario thought to himself. As he unpacks himself, he decides to get comfortable in his room and read some new comics he borrowed from Toadette. After a little while, Mario becomes drowsy, and falls asleep completely. Fortunately, he was in his bed at the time. Mario dreams about all the wonderful things he'll do at Rogueport, such as going back to the Glitz Pit as the Great Gonzales and finding treasure in Keehaul Key. With this, Mario finally sleeps it away…

PROLOUGE END.


	2. 1: The Shadow's Love Returns

**Chapter One: The Shadow's Love Returns**

YEAR STAR STAR, MONTH MOON

'Ugh… I think I've been asleep for too long,' Mario thinks to himself as he slowly rises out of bed. He looks out the window, and realizes that it's day. How long has he been asleep? Not even he knows. Mario checks the clock outside of his dorm.

"Hmm…" Mario stares at the clock with sleepy eyes, barely able to depict what the clock is pointing at. "Eight…Thirty… EIGHT THIRTY!?" Mario shouts aloud. He has been asleep for nearly two days at this point! As if he took in lots of caffeine in at once, he shoots wide awake. "Mama Mia! I've been asleep for two days!? No wonder I'm so hungry!" As always, Mario feels hungry whenever he sleeps for an abnormal amount to time. To remedy his hunger, he prepared himself a Shroom Sandwich that Zess T. taught him to make. Unfortunately, his cooking is not the best. Mario takes a big bite out of his Shroom Sandwich, and immediately does not like it. He overcooked the mushrooms!

'Ugh, I overcooked it again. If only Vivian were here with me. She makes the best food in the world, evening tied to Zess T. herself!' Mario thinks to himself. He knows for a fact that Vivian has legendary cooking skills. Mario's cooking is laughable compared to hers. Whenever she cooked, she always used her fire magic as a guideline for how long the food should be cooked. Although she never uses magic to cook food, Vivian can use the materials Rogueport can supply her and easily make some delicious meals.

In actuality, Mario is also interested in Vivian as well. A few months ago, Mario broke up with Princess Peach, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. Princess Peach was becoming obnoxious and rude over the days, and never even listened to a word Mario had to say. She would always mock his ideas and push them away, and she wouldn't treat the young hero with respect, either! This caused much tension between him and Peach. Eventually, Mario got in a big argument with Peach for trying to throw down an absurd tax on the kingdom! She would make everyone pay 50 Coins a month for every being living with a roof over their heads, instead of the usual and lower 10 Coin tax. Mario and Luigi tried to explain to Peach why it was cruel and unusual, yet the princess would simply refuse to change her mind!

"Bowser can have you for all I care! I don't ever want to see your face again!" Mario had enough of the Princess' cruel punishments and simply left her. He thought he was better off with somebody who actually cares for the people, unlike Princess Peach. Yet, the only person he could think of was kind Vivian. Yes, he knew that a person like Vivian wouldn't do such terrible acts to benefit herself!

Mario, terrified of how much time he spent sleeping away the ride, went up to the ferry's deck. There, he saw the captain at the helm, a Koopa named Kolorado. Mario desperately needed to know how many days have passed since he departed for Rogueport. He may have thought it had been two days, but he can't be quite sure.

"Captain Kolorado, thank you for letting me speak to you!" Mario said in a polite manner. He waited for Kolorado to look at him. "What seems to be the matter, boy? Your legs have turned into Jammin' Jelly!" Kolorado laughs heartily, but Mario takes no offense. Mario quickly asks, "Do you know how many days have passed since I got on the ferry to Rogueport? I need to know, please!" Kolorado simply looked at his calendar and at the direction of the sun.

"My boy, you've been out cold for three days! We'll be arriving at Rogueport shortly! Make sure you pack your belongings. We already have too many Bandits on this old ship," Kolorado explains to our mustached hero. Mario is surprised that it only took three days to get to Rogueport so quickly. He quickly goes to his room on the second floor and packs up all the food and books into his magical pocket.

Shortly after, Mario heads back up to the deck of the ship. There, he can see the silhouette of a town. 'Rogueport… There you are. It's been quite a long time! It feels SO good to be back.' Mario thinks. The savage, but thrilling badland, Rogueport, is now in view. It's been a good two years since he's been here, and he can't wait for the new adventures that will bring him here. "GET READY TO DEPART!" Kolorado shouts though a loud speaker. It pierces Mario's ears, but he doesn't mind, since he is too occupied with the sight of Rogueport.

"We've stopped. Prepare to leave! The ferry will return to Toad Town in about ten minutes!" Kolorado shouts yet again into the loudspeaker. Mario is already prepared to leave. 'Let's-a go!' Mario thinks. Mario watches as the ship's bridge descends onto Rogueport Harbor. He walks across the bridge. Once he steps onto the harbor… he starts to fall.

"Waaah!?" Mario lets out a yell as he's falling right through the floor. He feels a sensation, as if he's being pulled through the ground. 'Someone must be doing this!' Mario struggles as he tries to find a way to escape the unknown grasp on his leg. The poor hero just cannot seem to shake it off! As he struggles and struggles, the grip on him becomes tighter with every second. Then, he doesn't realize that he's about to hit a rock.

The rock is smashed into Mario's head, and Mario becomes unconscious…

THREE HOURS LATER…

'Ugh… That was horrible. I wonder who did that to me…?' Mario thinks as he slowly wakes up in the middle of a room. The room has a door, but the door is made out of pure titanium. His hammer wouldn't have made a dent in it. On top of that, the door is locked.

'This is an interesting room. There are no windows, a titanium door, leaky ceiling… This must be Ancient Rogueport.' Mario knows this place very well. Ancient Rogueport is a city that was built under the ground. The people who live here travel by the many Warp Pipes that lay across the entire city. 'Well, it's certainly good that THIS place is still intact. I was worried it wasn't.' Unfortunately, he still could not leave the room. All he could do now was roam around in a room with some surprising things. Not only was there a bed, but a soft pillow and blanket that came along with it. The room was almost a perfect square, and it had some walls that were colored gold and the others were red. The room was lit with some fancy candles that Mario mostly sees in his favorite restaurants! It's odd to see these in Rogueport… did somebody import them from a different town?

As he approaches the gold door, he struggles to open the knob. Nothing. The door is locked from the outside. 'Just as expected, I can't open it,' Mario thinks while he still struggles to open the door. He then starts to become reckless and attempts to pull the knob, thinking it will pop out of the door. Again, as he expected, nothing happened. 'I guess I'll have to wait a little bit. Maybe I'll escape as soon as the door opens.' Mario just sits down on the bed again, with his feet burrowed into the comfortable rug below him…

All of a sudden, the candles stop burning.

"Whuh-what!? What's going on now!?" Mario says aloud this time. This is truly something that startles him. The lights go out, but there is no wind coming in! The young hero looks everywhere, but he can't see when it's THIS pitch-black! Mario is on guard, ready to take on any strike that he might receive from the possible foe. 'Where is that coward? It better come out so I can give it a Mario-style whupping!' Mario is sweating. It feels as if he cannot sense anything, because as he looks in front of him…

…he sees a shady, unfamiliar figure, lurking in the shadows.

"Who are you!? What do you want from me, you?" Mario sternly scolds the figure. He still can't figure out who in the world he's talking to. "Teehee. You silly Mario! I guess it really HAS been such a long time! Buuut… I HAVE met YOU! Can you figure it out?" The strange figure replies. Mario notices that the person he's talking to must know him. Could it be a past enemy he has forgotten? Or could it be someone else who he can't quite remember. It's hard to tell anyway since he cannot see the figure very well!

"Hmm… maybe you need something that'll help you remember… How about…this!?" The strange figure, as it says to Mario, starts to light the candles on fire one by one. After lighting the first few candles with fire magic, Mario can now see that he's talking to somebody taking the shape and voice of a young woman, roughly about 20 years old. However, Mario still cannot see her face. "I still don't know you with that kind of hint…" Mario weakly says to the young woman. He wonders if this woman is just playing with him. Then, the next few candles are lit on fire…

"How about now, Mario? You gotta remember me now!" The young woman is now completely visible. She is now in Mario's vision. The woman is definitely 20 years of age. She has dark-purple skin, so it must be a Shadow being. The Shadow is slim and tall, and has white, long gloves. Her body shows that she is wearing a dress made completely of shadow. What gives the Shadow away almost immediately is her hair. Her hair is nicely groomed and long, as it goes down to the middle of her back. Most interesting of all, the Shadow has PINK HAIR.

'Mama Mia... How could I not realize it sooner!? It's gotta be her, and only her!' Mario starts to become overloaded with so many memories of this one. He knows exactly who it is once he sees all of the woman's features…

"Vivian? VIVIAN! It's you! It really IS you!" Mario yells at the top of his lungs. Yes, he can clearly tell that Vivian was the one that pulled him into Ancient Rogueport. Out of all the people Mario expected to see at the Harbor first, he would have never thought Vivian would greet him first. Mario starts to shed some tears, because he's seen one of his best friends again. "Is something wrong, Mario!? Oh no, what do I do? Maybe I'll go get some tissues for him, but I can't leave him here! Oh no oh no oh no…" Vivian becomes frantic almost immediately, and starts to bite her nails, completely petrified. As Mario continues to bawl, Vivian can only think of one thing to do left.

"I got it! I'll do that! He always stops panicking when that happens!" Vivian lights up once the idea pops into her head. Without Mario noticing, Vivian slowly glides toward him, and then she impulsively kisses him right on the lips. With this, Mario stops crying uncontrollably, and then he falls down to the ground. However, he is still very conscious of this. "Oops, I think I overdid it! I hope he doesn't get mad at me for this…" Vivian nervously says to herself, blushing furiously.

Mario gets up, but he's not bawling anymore, and there's a smudge of yellow lipstick on his left cheek. 'She always does that when I start going a little crazy. I gotta stop doing that.' Mario carefully thinks, rather than trying to say anything that might offend young Vivian. "Wow, it's been such a long time! I can't believe I'd find you so soon! You must've gotten the news early that I was here." Mario says directly to Vivian. "Oh, stop it, Mario! Although that WAS true, though," Vivian blushes with a big grin on her face, as if she did something embarrassing right in front of Mario.

"You've definitely grown up a lot since I left Rogueport. It's surprising how much you've changed!" Mario points out how tall Vivian is now compared to two years ago. "I'm sure you know this, but it was my birthday two months ago on Month Mushroom. The letter you sent me made me realize that you still remember us! It's great to know that you didn't forget us one bit!" Vivian shrieks, but not too loudly. Mario appreciates that Vivian liked his letter.

However, something about Vivian's appearance makes the young mustached hero concerned. Her hat was certainly missing. She wasn't wearing it at all! Vivian, during Mario's adventures in Rogueport, used to have a red hat with white stripes covering it, as to not show her eyes to anybody. This time, however, Mario can see that Vivian has a scarf with the same color and stripes taking its place. Her eyes, now visible, have a shining blue glow to them. They appear large and glossy, but they look like pure crystals from Mario's point of view.

…But Mario still has one question lingering in his mind.

'What happened to her sacred hat? She always told me she cherished it, even when she was just a small child. What could have possibly happened during those two years…?' Mario was upset to see that one of Vivian's most precious items are now gone, and he proceeds to ask her what happened.

"Vivian…Where is your hat?"

Vivian let out a small gasp as soon as she heard Mario ask that. She never knew Mario would be as curious as to question the presence of her hat. 'Oh, what should I do now? Should I tell him the truth? Maybe I shouldn't. Wait, I promised that I wouldn't deceive my friends again. Now I got to tell Mario.' Vivian sadly looks at the floor, away from Mario's face.

"Beldam… she destroyed it." Vivian barely whispers, but Mario clearly understands what she said. Although silent, Mario is truly shocked to hear that Beldam Vivian's oldest sister, decided to destroy one of the only things Vivian had to cherish. 'How could Beldam DO that to her? It makes me so… so INFURIATED! After helping me save everybody on the planet from dying, THIS is how she repay her!? I cannot believe how she can even call Vivian her sibling. She acts with hostility and with no remorse!' Mario, still silent, yet incredibly mad, asks Vivian to continue the story.

"About four weeks ago, Beldam, Marilyn and I were taking a short walk in Poshley Heights, discussing what we were going to do for the next few days. Beldam said that she was going to go all around the Mushroom Kingdom, and go sightseeing. Marilyn couldn't speak, so she wrote to us that she was going to find a person that could help her master her magic. Beldam lost it when I told the both of them that I was going to see you in about a month. 'Why would you EVER want to see that oaf of a man? He barely deserves any credit given to him. Not only that, that man probably doesn't remember you!' Beldam yelled. I could tell she really doesn't like my plans. I told her that you were a good man, and that you still remembered me, and that Beldam promised not to hurt me again."

Vivian paused for a moment, trying to catch her breath, trying to stay strong for Mario. Mario could tell that this was no lie. Everything she stated must have been true. 'How horrible…' Mario thinks as he waits patiently for Vivian to continue. Mario knows how cruel people can be, but he's never seen it go higher than this, for just a tiny matter.

"After that, Beldam started to attack me viciously. She literally used every spell she knew against me, as if she was trying to kill me and end my game. Since her specialty was Ice magic, I had to avoid everything that you could imagine that's made up of ice. As she continues to throw spells at me, I quickly end her savage fury by punching her in the gut. I had knocked her out using my weakest technique, Shade Fist. You know how well it works, Mario…"

"With that, I quickly ran off to the hotel nearby in Poshley Heights, crying, and with my head burrowed into my hands. I had already paid for a room before, so I was able to go up to my room. I was thinking of the broken promise and I had cried myself to sleep. And as I was asleep, Beldam snuck into my room. Before I knew it, I saw my hat, but ripped into pieces. Beldam tore it apart and said 'This is what happens when we have to deal with a disobedient BRAT like you! You better WISH you've never done that to me.' Obviously she is talking about the beating I gave her in self-defense. As I saw my hat in pieces, I set both Beldam and Marilyn on fire as a diversion so I could escape. I couldn't stand forgiving them anymore, so I left the place, crying my eyes out. I would never see them again after that day, unless it meant we were going to battle."

"Before I had left, I picked up the remaining pieces of my hat and sewed it together to make a scarf. Those pieces meant a lot to me, so I put much time making sure the scarf looked nice. I didn't dare sew it back into a hat, because it brings back too many painful memories. I never had any good times, being the victim of my sister's bullying. I made it into a scarf because I used to wear many scarves before I met you."

Mario had never seen Vivian wear a scarf before, so it came to him as odd that she would wear one of those. Maybe the scarf still has the magic that her hat used to have. 'Vivian had told me that the hat could strengthen any magical spells she would use. Since the scarf is made out of the same material, it should do the same thing.' Mario ponders as he starts to get up.

"…I can't believe that your sister could be THAT cruel. I'm sorry I wasn't there to prevent it. If I was there, I could've prevented it… But maybe it should be left behind in the past. You can make a fresh start here, and just be you! You won't have to obey anyone, and you can still be with reliable friends! Wouldn't that be nice, Vivian?" Mario tries to persuade Vivian. Vivian can't help but agree with the young hero.

"Totally, Mario!"

Mario holds out his hand to shake on his request with her. Vivian takes his hand, and both give a firm handshake. They are now ready for anything that stands in their way. "Now, shall we get out of here?"

Mario and Vivian had been walking around Ancient Rogueport for about three hours. They were lost for the fourth time and found about sixteen dead ends on their way. They've been through many pipes, but they couldn't find one that led up to New Rogueport. Strangely enough, no hoodlums or Bandits were nearby.

"We got lost. Again. Well, this is fantastic." Mario sarcastically snorts. He never obtained a map of the ancient city. Mario was completely unprepared to be going down here again. Mario then notices that Vivian had been reading this book that looked awfully familiar to him. It was a Tattle Log, but it wasn't Goombella's Tattle Log, but a brand new model. Vivian must have bought one while he was gone.

"You got a Tattle Log, Vivian? I never knew you learned tattling from Goombella." Mario tells Vivian. "Yeah, I know! I've only just started learning, but it could come in use in case we find a strong enemy to fight, or one we haven't seen yet." Vivian replies with a smile. 'I REALLY cannot use this thing… Oh my gosh, I could get Mario killed if I can't utilize it well! So I'll try hard to use the Tattle Log! But if I don't… ugh, I don't even wanna think about it!' Vivian nervously thinks to herself.

"Let's see you try it out, then! Look, there's a… THAT'S A BIG GOOMBA!" Mario is startled and starts shaking his knees a little bit. He sees this Goomba that is a lot bigger than a normal one. It goes up to Mario and starts talking to him.

"Hey, you punks. Gimme all of your money, or I'm gonna have to beat you up!" The unusually large Goomba threatens Mario. Mario does not stand up to being threatened, and immediately retaliates, "Don't start looking for fights you won't win in, ya big loser! You got more bite than bark, from the looks of it!"

As Mario tells off the big Goomba thug, he's attacked by it. The large Goomba attempts to flatten Mario by using a Body Slam, but Mario quickly dodges out of the way. "Oh, so you wanna fight, huh? Bring it on!" Mario leaps several feet into the air and lands right on the large Goomba's head.

Nothing happens, though. The Goomba does not even flinch when it happens. "Ha-ha, is that the best you've got, you pesky plumber!? That's laughable!" The Goomba states as he taunts Mario and continues to bellow. "Oh boy, this guy is tough! Vivian, please look him up!" Mario shouts out to Vivian. Vivian nods and starts to look through her Tattle Log.

"Hmm, let's see… That's not it… Not that either… Oh no, where is it!? Mario, give me some time to look up that baddy of yours! No, no, no…" Vivian continues to mutter to herself as she skims through the Tattle Log. But no matter how hard she looks, she still cannot find the right page! 'Wait, this thing is SECTIONED? I wasted too much time looking for it!' Vivian angrily thinks to herself. She continues to skim through the sections to hopefully find the information she needs!

Mario is getting tired after continually jumping away from the large Goomba's Body Slams and the Goomba does not appear to be showing any signs of stopping or tiring. "I can't last much more than 10 minutes in battle, and I still can't figure out its weakness! Vivian, please hurry!" Mario grows weary and has trouble speaking, but Vivian understands. The Goomba begins to get cocky and shouts, "What's the matter, you lightweight trash!? Too tired to face me? Well, you better learn to say off my territory next time, punk!" The giant Goomba continues to attempt to flatten Mario, but Mario continues to dodge with success, but will he last any longer?

Then, what seemed to be a miracle, Vivian found the information about the Goomba! "I found it! His name is Rawk Hawk! Um, he appears to use acrobatics to fight, and can even drop items on you from the ceiling, if one is-"

Vivian cuts herself off mid-sentence, realizing that Rawk Hawk is not in the "Various" section, and that Rawk Hawk is not the enemy they're fighting. "…I messed up! Sorry, Mario, I'll find him soon!" Vivian shouts with uncertainty to the tiring hero. Mario is getting frustrated how long it's taking for Vivian to find this enemy's weakness, but forgives her in his head because she hasn't mastered Tattling, unlike Goombella.

Mario then realizes that he still has his trusty hammer with him! The hammer MUST work if jumping isn't doing anything to this Goomba. "I GOT IT!" Mario shouts aloud, whilst taking his hammer out of his magical pocket. Mario then swings with all his might and hits the Goomba directly in the face!

"Hey, you stupid punk! That hurts, that hurts WAAAAY too much! You're gonna pay for messing up my beautiful face!" The Goomba states, as he removes some of his broken teeth from his mouth. "Yes! It's working! Now I'll know what to do! Vivian, hold on!" Mario shouts yet again to Vivian, and continues to wail on the large Goomba's face with his mighty hammer!

"That's it, Mario! That guy's a Super Goomba! He appears to have a high endurance for physical attacks and can deal a lot of damage when he body slams his opponent! But this Super Goomba's weakness is on his back! Keep attacking him there and you'll put him down quickly!" Vivian reads from the Tattle Log, smiling! She finally tattled her first enemy! "Got it!" Mario replies, displaying that he understood the information that was just given to him.

As the Super Goomba prepares to do another Body Slam, Mario proceeds to dodge by jump up and over it. While in midair, the hero pulls out his mighty Ultra Hammer and pulls his hammer back. "Huh!? Where did he go, that rascal?" The Super Goomba has no idea where Mario is, until it's too late for it. Mario swings with all of his might into the Super Goomba's back, sending it flying across the floor.

"Ugh, n-no fair, y-you cheater! I was about to mug you, too! Oh boy, I'm… Done for…" The Super Goomba then falls into unconsciousness. Mario takes a huge breath of relief once he puts away his Ultra Hammer. He then proceeds to sit down right next to Vivian, who's standing up right beside him.

"That… was a little bit… TOO close… don'tcha think, Vivian?" Mario attempts to say as he catches his breath, exhausted from the long battle he had with that menacing Super Goomba.

"Oh, Mario, that was FANTASTIC! You did such a great job, I couldn't believe it! I'm SO proud of you!" Vivian states, ecstatic of Mario's victory, even though she wasn't of much use to him. She then proceeds to crouch towards Mario. "This is your reward, Mr. Hero! Great job on the win!" Vivian opens her arms wide and gives the young lad a tight squeeze, even tighter than the Chuckyas Mario used to fight. Even they were powerful wrestlers, but they had nothing on beautiful Vivian. The hug is so powerful that it immobilizes him, making him unable to move any parts of his body except his head. Oh, how she loved Mario so, that her affection shall have her suffocate the young hero.

'I didn't know it was a reward to suffocate me to death, but I guess it's alright as long as it's her.' Mario thinks aloud as he struggles to breathe, yet Vivian tightens her grip as he struggles. A few minutes later, she releases Mario from her grasp.

"So where should we go next, Vivian? I hope somewhere where there's a lot of excitement! Are there any suggest-"

Mario feels a rumbling happening around him, but an earthquake is not taking place. 'It sounds like my Mailbox SP is acting up again. I'd better check it.' Mario shoves his hands into his pocket to pull out a Mailbox SP, a mobile device made for the purpose of reading e-mails. It takes the shape of a rectangular prism, but it mostly looks like a Gameboy Advance SP.

The e-mail was yet again from Goombella. Mario was curious as to find out what she sent him this time.

"Dear Mario,

I need to make this as short as I can, but you need to come to Rogueport Square IMMEDIATELY. I'll tell you the details as soon as you get here. It's urgent, so please hurry! If Vivian is with you, she also needs to be here.

Make haste,

Goombella"

"This seems like a problem, and you know what that means…" Vivian whispers as she also reads the e-mail. Mario agrees with her statement and says "I know what you mean. Let's get to Rogueport Square as fast as we can. We can't afford to make any more detours," Mario exclaims. He runs at an amazing speed to continue finding the exit of Ancient Rogueport.

Within a few seconds, he found the exit near Professor Frankly's house. "Alright, Vivian. This is the exit! Let's go!" Mario shouts to Vivian, but tries to sound as polite as he can. Vivian nods her head and follows Mario to the pipe.

"Ladies first," Mario gestures, and walks Vivian into the pipe first, whilst he follows her out. As they go through the pipe, Mario still has many questions for the strange e-mail Goombella sent. What could possibly be the matter with Rogueport Square? May the X-Nauts be attacking the square yet again, or is something even more frightening going to happen? Maybe Goombella found some ancient relic, or even some magical chest. Mario can never truly figure out unless he dissects the situation himself. Mario continues to ponder, as he enters the pipe…

CHAPTER ONE END.


	3. 2: A Mystery of the Ages

**Chapter Two: A Mystery of the Ages**

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON

Mario and Vivian, exiting the rusty and turquoise pipe, see a familiar light ahead of them as they pass through the pipe. "Wow, this sunlight is really harsh today! I can hardly see anything in front of me" Mario exclaims as he covers his face from the sunlight, constantly beating his face with warmth and comfort. Mario can tell that today is going to be a beautiful day, since he can hear many birds chirping, and noticing many people walk outside their houses to enjoy the fresh spring weather.

"This place hasn't changed much at all since I left here… I can even tell where everything is!" Mario states, as he can clearly point out all of the public areas he sees, such as the Lovely Howz of Badges, and the bartender Podley's inn. Mario can also hear the mumbling of Goombas and Bandits in the back alley, along with the shrieks of people winning the lottery in the west area. The east area is just as calm as it always was, although still quite dirty compared to the western side of Rogueport. Bobbery's house is just as rigid and hardy as it used to be, and Merlon is still giving timid heroes some hope by bestowing them powers that are unimaginable to the normal person.

"Today is just BEAUTIFUL, Mario! It was much cooler the day before, but this day is just perfect!" Vivian, allowing her hair to absorb the sunlight, starts spinning and dancing around, excited that spring has come to Rogueport. Fall and winter have been giving poor Rogueport such a rough beating of snow, hail and cold rain, but spring is always looked forward to. It's quite worth it, since food surpluses become larger, and it takes less time to ship and package to other regions. In fact, 20% of the Mushroom Kingdom's supplies are manufactured by Rogueport itself! With more supplies, the Mushroom Kingdom can easily fend off against all types of threats.

Mario, though very satisfied with such warm and comfortable weather, starts to become concerned for old Professor Frankly Goom, Goombella's teacher in archeology. He hasn't seen him in a while, and wanted to pay the old Goomba a visit before they went to Rogueport. "Hey Vivian, let's go see how Professor Frankly's holding up." Mario nudges Vivian gently on her soft shoulder. "Sure thing, Mario." The duo takes a right turn directly from the pipe they just left, and continue straight to find themselves at Professor Frankly's doorstep.

'All right, here goes nothing,' Mario assures himself in his mind. Mario slowly and loudly knocks twice on the door, making sure that Professor Frankly will answer the door, if he happens to be there.

At first, there was no response. Mario knocked on the door once again, yet no reply came from the door. "I don't he's here. Maybe we should look around." Vivian suggests, but knows that Mario isn't one to give up so easily. Just as he is about to knock on the door for a third time, the door is swung right open. Mario trips when he tries to knock on the door.

'This is gonna hurt.'

Mario lands on the floor and right on his poor nose, too! "Yowch! That really stung my face!" Mario grabbed his nose with all his might, yelping with pain from falling on a piece of concrete in Frankly's room. His nose turned red, but thank goodness he wasn't bleeding at all.

A few seconds later, they see that Professor Frankly was the one that opened up that door. It's amazing how neither Vivian nor Mario saw him as he landed.

"Whuzzut? Mario, you young boy! What are you doing there on my floor? I thought you were all the way in Toad Town!" Professor Frankly must have never gotten the message, seeing that he had no idea that Mario would be coming back. Strangely enough, he hasn't changed a bit. He still has that same white and curly hair on the back of his head, and the same broken glasses with their swirled texture on the lenses. Even his voice didn't change at all.

"Professor Frankly! It's so nice to see you again!" Mario exclaims loudly. He seems pretty happy to see an old, cranky Goomba such as Frankly. "How've you been so far in Rogueport? Any luck in finding new artifacts and ancient paintings?" Mario starts to bombard the professor with questions that he can't answer right away.

"Slow down, Mario, SLOW DOWN. I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere anyways. It's nice to see that you're in good shape, seeing how you've lost weight! Quite a lot, to be exact! You've done well to handle such a painstaking task." The professor was clearly able to see that Mario is getting healthier, and actually exercising, in which his observations appear to be quite typical to young Vivian. 'I wonder if I will be that aware and knowing when I get a little older…' Vivian thinks to herself as she watches the two converse with each other.

"Now, Mario, what brings you two young ones here? Is there something wrong?" Professor Frankly asks Mario, but Vivian decides to respond. "Well, we did need to tell you something strange that we received from Goombella. It appears to be an e-mail stating that we should be at Rogueport Square soon. Do you happen to know why?"

The Professor, completely focused on Vivian's information, decides to sit down and think for a while, as he reads Mario's e-mail. He ponders for a moment, until he finally comes up with something.

"Aaaah, I see the problem. Moments before this letter was sent, there was a large earthquake taking place here. Nothing changed in the environment. Everything was intact… except for the noose in the center of Rogueport Square. The stand was completely destroyed. Nothing remained of it."

"Taking its place was a semi-large circle in the ground, with nothing in it. A few moments later, a strange pipe emerged out of that very hole! It was indeed a Warp Pipe, since Goombella was able to enter and exit. However, the pipe was made out of pure gold, paired with silver lining. There was something about it that seemed so mysterious, so Goombella went to check it out. From there, I couldn't tell you the rest. Goombella went into the pipe around 10 minutes ago, so she may still be in the area it took her to. Most likely, that e-mail was based off of that." Professor Frankly exclaimed to the two heroes.

'A Golden…Warp Pipe? I haven't seen those in real life; only in books! Legend has it that they lead to some forbidden parts of the Mushroom Kingdom that nobody dare tries to travel towards. I wonder if that pipe has anything to do with those forbidden areas…' Mario, in deep thought, thinks to himself. Mario, during his spare time, usually read all sorts of legends that the Mushroom Kingdom was to have supposedly contained for many years. This so happened to be one of those very legends, but it was unfinished. The part of the ancient book he couldn't read had been furiously ripped out of the book, as if a Chain Chomp was fed the pages. 'So if one of those legends is true… This is something we should more into. I might as well tell Goombella that I had read this in a book.' Mario thinks, deep in thought.

The professor adjusts his glasses and clears his throat to get ready for his next hammering of dialogue. "You may not know this, but this same phenomenon is foreseen in many ancient books that I myself have uncovered while researching the dank caves of Ancient Rogueport. Most of these books point towards some strange objects, but they are in hieroglyphics that I have NEVER seen in my lifetime. They may have been lost in history. That's my ONLY reason for not understanding them." Professor Frankly appears disappointed, understanding that he is an archaeologist, and should know these things by now. 'Poor professor… I would probably be in the same boat as him, frustrated without know anything about something I am a master at.' Vivian thinks, sympathetic of the old Goomba.

"This sounds important, Professor. Why do you think the pipe had suddenly appeared along with that earthquake? It's unheard of!" Vivian, who, unlike Mario, did not hear of this same legend. She mostly learns ways to use fire in her spare time and not read old fantasies people have rumored about for millennia.

"Of course, my dear. The earthquake, along with this strange pipe in the square, are most directly linked to the enormous cloud that had covered the entire square in total darkness. As soon as it stopped right on top of the square, the earthquake commenced and shook the ground violently. If my assumptions are correct, the pipe should lead you TO THAT CLOUD."

Mario and Vivian gasped. They never knew that a mere cloud could cause such wild events to occur in such a short time! They didn't doubt the professor for even a moment, although it does sound quite unbelievable.

"That's amazing, Mario! We should go there as soon as we can and check it out! I've never been on a CLOUD before! It'll feel so nice, the breeze! Oh, the wonderful breeze we'll feel once we're up there!" Vivian exclaims directly to Mario, daydreaming about what could possibly be on that mysterious cloud. 'Heh, there she goes again, daydreaming about the future. It's going to be another great adventure,' Mario thinks as he watches Vivian jabbering about in Frankly's house.

"Alright Vivian, we should probably get going soon. Goombella's been waiting for us for TOO long. Thank you for your time, Professor!" Mario gets up from his seat and waves towards Frankly. As he approaches the door, Frankly shouts, "Don't take too much time out there, you know how she gets!" Mario and Vivian laugh heartily at his humorous comment, wave their goodbyes one more time, and left his house. They immediately take a right and set off for the square.

However, some petty thief wasn't looking forward to that happening. There was a Bandit blocking the entrance to the square. "Oh boy, another one of these creeps. I wonder what he wants," The young hero grumbles under his breath. As Mario tried to pass through, the Bandit pushes him back, making him lose his balance. "Hey, what's the big deal, pal?" Mario angrily asks the Bandit.

"Oh, yeah. Suckers like you gotta pay up if you wanna pass. One hundred coins each, to be in fact." The Bandit replies, taking the dirt out of his greasy fingernails, then proceeding to bite them. Mario was in no mood to just hand over two hundred coins to some hoodlum. 'Jeez, this whole town's run by greedy people who only think about money.' Mario thinks.

Mario simply decides to pull out his hammer. This made the Bandit nervous. "O-o-oh yeah, I forgot! The fee's t-ten Coins, ol' pal of mine! N-nothing to worry about, no sir-ee!" The Bandit nervously exclaims, sweating furiously. The Bandit then notices Vivian, who appears even more menacing than even our young hero. Her teeth are clenched together, and her crystal blue eyes turned into a burning red color.

"LEAAAAAAAAAVE HIM ALOOOOOOOOOOONE." Vivian groans, appearing as a demonic soul who couldn't rest in peace, always lurking around in the dark. It was quite a good play, too. The Bandit screams at the top of his lungs and says, "OH NO! YOU PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY DEMONS! I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!" The Bandit runs away from the scene as fast as a baby Yoshi could, not daring to look behind him.

A few seconds of silence, then Vivian and Mario laugh like jolly people in a nice Christmas mood. "That was a great play, Vivian! Brilliant, even. My own acting skills couldn't match up to yours!" Mario praises Vivian, causing her to blush. "O-oh, it's nothing, really. I just learn a f-few things from Flurrie." Vivian nervously rubs her arm. 'He actually liked it! I've only done that twice before now, and everyone hated it! He actually likes my acting! Oooh, wait until he actually sees me FIGHT! I've been much, much stronger! He'll be so proud of me, too!' Vivian thinks to herself, while looking at Mario's shining face and smiling to it.

"I did want to beat the snot out of him, but I guess not. Anyway, let's-"

Mario is cut off mid-sentence, when he notices how dark it has become in only a minute.

"What? It was morning just a few seconds ago! I can barely see anything now!" The two heroes have no idea why it's become so dark in such a short time. "Mario, look!" Vivian grabs Mario by the arm and points upward to the sky, and Mario also looks up with Vivian.

"…Mama Mia…" Mario is flabbergasted at what he sees.

The two heroes have actually spotted what appears to be a giant cloud hovering over the square. Professor Frankly was right! There WAS a cloud in the square, but they didn't imagine that it would be so large! Rogueport Square is the largest square in the Mushroom Kingdom, and it's being covered in darkness, due to this cloud.

"The professor is right, Mario! Look, there's the golden pipe over there!" Vivian shouts, tugging Mario again and pointing towards the center of the square, where the noose used to be. Taking its place was indeed a large, Golden Warp Pipe, with silver decorations on its surface. Coming out from the pipe was the sound of wind on a nice, spring morning, much like today's weather…

In fact, it sounded just like the conditions outside! The wind coming out from the pipe was the exact wind they felt at the harbor, but it was much harsher, as if it was from a higher altitude. "That's interesting… this pipe sounds like it leads to a higher place, maybe even way higher than Glitzville!" Mario says to lovely Vivian. "It's even higher than Glitzville itself? That cloud looks like it fits the bill!" Vivian states, pointing at Glitzville, then again at the large cloud. Mario notices that the mysterious cloud is indeed at a much higher altitude than the majestic city of fighters.

"Way to go on that inference, Vivian!" Mario holds his hand out to give Vivian a high-five for her great effort, but she doesn't know what to do! 'What's he… doing? I don't know what kind of custom humans have compared to Shadows, but that's definitely not one of mine! Ummm… I GOT IT!' Vivian thinks to herself.

She came up with a plan that was not very intelligent, and yelled with all her might, "ORO TRUENO!"

The young Shadow shouts into the blue and white sky, whilst waving her finger to the air, then back to the ground with a swing! A dark cloud suddenly forms on top of Mario, and within three seconds, a lightning bolt strikes down!

Vivian literally uses a magical spell to electrocute Mario's poor left hand. "MAMA MIA! THAT HURT! VIVIAN, WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" Mario shouts, jolting in pain and holding his left hand for dear life. His wound is not too serious, but it does hurt indeed. The spell was called "Oro Trueno" (The Golden Thunder in Spanish); one of Vivian's least powerful spells, but is indeed much stronger than a spell a normal Magikoopa could produce in one shot.

"…Sorry, Mario. I thought we were doing the 'Shadow's Gold' Ceremony! It's a sign of thanks from the Seven Stars! When someone holds out their hand, one must shoot lightning into the other, or some form of magic if necessary! I, um, didn't mean to hurt you…" Vivian sadly mumbles to the young hero. The "Shadow's Gold" Ceremony was indeed as Vivian had said it was. Mario was indeed mad that he was shocked by such a powerful spell, but he wasn't mad at Vivian. She didn't know that a high-five was meant for the hands, not magic.

"It is alright, Vivian! Don't worry about it too much," The young hero smiles brightly towards Vivian, showing that he really doesn't mind getting hurt every once in a while. "I'll tell you what you're supposed to do later, but we've a pipe to enter!"

The two heroes take a look into the darkness of the pipe. They see nothing, but can only hope for the best. Mario guides the beautiful Shadow into the magical pipe, and follows her in…

It was very dark. Pitch-black covered Mario's entire sight for the entire warping process. All he could really see was Vivian herself, who could see perfectly in the dark. "Mario, watch out, there are a few bugs on the floor that'll make you catch a really bad disease. Try not to touch them." Vivian says quietly. Mario tries to heed Vivian's advice, but cannot see anything! "Uh, Vivian? As much as I would like to follow your advice, I can't because I can't see anything!" Mario exclaims.

"Rubí," Vivian commands her left hand, the one Mario is not guiding.

All of a sudden, her hand is alight, burning gloriously in the dark pipe. Her spell was a powerful fire magic put in control. Mario takes notice that Vivian can control her own fire spells even more than before. An amazing girl such as herself believed that controlling her, once-wild fire magic, is nothing compared to her powers today. 'She's gone to that level and beyond!? It's amazing! It surprises me how much she's learned over the long and hard years.' Mario would like to praise young Vivian for her efforts, but instead just thanks her for the small light she was able to provide.

Mario is quite surprised at how long this Warp Pipe is. It's been about five minutes since entering, and he hasn't reached the exit yet! "Vivian, this Warp Pipe… it's unimaginably long compared to other pipes. I've never entered one that took this long!" Mario exclaims shockingly to Vivian. "You're right, Mario! Never have I encountered a long Warp Pipe such as this… And even stranger…" Vivian, with her flaming hand, points straight forward, out into the horizon. Mario catches her doing so a second later.

A few more seconds of walking, and Mario starts to see what appears to be light. Have they finally gotten to their destination? Mario is not quite entirely sure, nor is Vivian. The only way for them to tell was to just continue walking forward. "That looks like our ticket out of here! Let's go!" Vivian says. She starts to tug at Mario's arm, and then pull him towards the light. Vivian then starts to speed up, floating to the light faster than usual. "Hey, wait! You're going too fast! VIVIAN!" Mario starts yelling as he's being pulled by beautiful Vivian. They're going at a tremendous speed, chasing the light as if they were lions chasing their catch of prey.

Then, the two heroes have finally made it out of the Warp Pipe. For a moment, neither of the two can see due to how long they've been in darkness for. "Too harsh, way too harsh!" Mario complains, aching for a chance to get away from the sunlight just enough so that he could see.

A few more seconds, and Mario can see for a little bit…But now, it's come to his attention that something is… off, with his current location. Silence. Mario can barely speak due to what he's seen…

"Vivian…We're... On the cloud." Mario slowly lets out.

Mario sees that he is not standing on ground, but instead, he is standing on top of a cloud-like platform! Surprisingly, it holds both of their weight combined. Although Vivian cannot see very well in this harsh light, she struggles to look at the floor, and to her surprise, she IS standing on a cloud!

"WOW, MARIO! LOOK AT THIS! WE'RE ACTUALLY ON THE CLOUD! YES, THIS IS INCREDIBLY AWESOME! I LOVE THIS ADVENTURE ALREADY! I'M SO HAPPY I CAN HUG YOU TO DEATH AGAIN!" Vivian starts shrieking towards Mario, and starts to choke him with a powerful hug. Mario, worried about Vivian's wellbeing, says, "Umm… Vivian, try being more careful or you'll fall. I've had that problem WAAAY too many times when I was a younger man." Indeed, Mario was quite careless when he was a teenage boy, wasting away many amounts of lives he preciously collected during his adventures. He's learned a lot from his mistakes, now that he is 24 years of age. Vivian on the other hand still has a long way to go, being only 20 years of age.

"Interesting… The clouds are natural, and not those artificial platforms that Bowser makes. I wonder what is keeping us up here…" Mario states. He can feel the cloud, and when he does, he can easily pull parts of the cloud out, as if it were cotton candy (It also tasted like it, but it wasn't food at all). Vivian is also quite interested with these clouds. She just plucks at them to see them dissolve into nothing. "Something's keeping these clouds solid. It might- no, it MUST be magic. Only magic would be able to keep the clouds intact AND solid, because a machine would easily blow them away." Vivian states. How interesting this is to Mario, as he knows little about magic. 'That seems about right, coming from Vivian! Might as well trust her with this one,' Mario thinks.

The two heroes start to hop over every single one of the clouds, as they ascend upward even more. This time, however, Vivian starts to record what she sees in a map of hers, in case they get lost again. For about five minutes, they've been seeing nothing but clouds, clouds, CLOUDS. "This is… quite underwhelming," Mario sadly states.

Mario, you… you may want to rephrase that statement..." Vivian shouts from a short distance. She points into the horizon, and Mario follows her finger to the destination.

"…No way. No way! NO WAY! THAT CANNOT BE POSSIBLE!" Mario starts to shout wildly.

Mario and Vivian have found a door. A large, golden door with silver lining. The door is intimidating, surpassing the height of any normal being in the Mushroom Kingdom. There is also a pedestal near the large door, taking the unusual shape of the sun. The sun seems to have ten points shooting out of it, evenly spread out throughout the sun shape. The door itself has sun symbols on it. Five on each doorway. "No…" Vivian lets out unintentionally. This could only mean one thing…

…They have found a Thousand-Year Door.

"…Vivian. What… in the world… is THAT… doing here?" Mario grits his teeth and says, slowly enough for Vivian to catch. Vivian does not speak. Like Mario, she is awestruck with confusion and amazement upon seeing the Thousand-Year Door ahead of them. Her eyes don't try to leave the sight of the door, but she says, "This… is unlike anything I've even heard of. I had no idea that a second door was in existence. Mario, this is big. Big as in 'We've got to figure this out quick' kind of big." Vivian says in monotone, still amazed with the Thousand-Year Door.

"We need to destroy this thing, quick! I don't care what's behind it!" Mario starts to yell in fury and starts hammering the door. He knows he isn't making a dent in it, but he could care less. Right now, he is too angry to even think straight. He continues to punch, kick, and hammer the blasted Thousand-Year Door.

'Poor Mario,' Vivian thinks to herself. 'He only acts like this because of the last time we discovered a Thousand-Year Door. The world was about to end because of our own foolishness, yet Mario saved all of us from destruction and chaos. This must be bringing back too many painful memories.'

In Mario's adventure of the first Thousand-Year Door, a terrible evil lay behind it, that evil named the Shadow Queen. The Shadow Queen possessed Princess Peach in order to fully utilize her power. Fortunately, Mario was able to trounce her before her full power was released. In doing so, he saved the Mushroom Kingdom once more from imminent doom.

Mario continues to pound on the Thousand-Year Door for quite a while, his anger not quite satisfied. "I HATE THIS STUPID DOOR! I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!"

"Hate's a powerful word, dude. Don't use it TOO freely, else it'll get worse. " A voice says in the distance.

"Yeah, that's right! Mario, you shouldn't sa-" Vivian cuts herself off. "W-w-wait, who was that?" Vivian starts to look around, but doesn't see anybody around. She can't tell where the voice is coming from, either, due to the noise reverberating off the clouds, sounding as if the voice was coming from all the directions. Mario didn't even notice, and continues to hammer the door.

"Ha ha, you must be wondering who I must be, Shadow Maiden! But, that'll stay a secret unless you defeat me in battle!" The voice says yet again, in a heroic tone.

"Shadow… MAIDEN!?" Vivian angrily retaliates. "I am not anybody's MAIDEN, for crying out loud! Come and face me so I can punch you square in your FACE!" The comment that the figure stated made Vivian recall her slight inferiority complex, but she won't have any of that anymore. She was ready to fight this unknown figure, face to face.

"If you say so, manifest of evil! I shall face you!" The heroic voice says once more.

A second later and Vivian sees a figure somersaulting many times in the air, and lands on the cloud right next to Vivian. It wasn't anyone she's seen before.

It appeared to be a wooden puppet, who was garbed in blue robes, complete with yellow threads. The "puppet" also had two orange curls which appeared to be his hair. Many crevices cover the "puppet's" face, but they appear to be black lines.

"I'm just kidding, girl! Didn't mean to hurt your feelings," The figure said. "I'm also not here to fight y-"

The "puppet" was punched in face with so much power that soon after, the "puppet" was stopped from completing its sentence.

"You stinkin' jerk," Vivian mumbles. "That's not cool to assume my title, AT ALL. Do that again, and I may do more than a weak little punch such as that."

The "puppet" is nodding his head and states, "Yes ma'am, won't do it again! But, what are you doing here, why are you here, and what are you doing here with Mario?" The "puppet" seems to know who Mario is. Vivian takes note of this and starts to ponder. 'Is this one of Mario's enemies, or is this one of his allies? Maybe somebody who just HAPPENS to know him? Hmmm… I'm not too sure, but I can't assume anything for now.'

"First of all, what's your name, mister? I don't think I've seen you before." Vivian asks the "puppet." The "puppet" seems to ignore Vivian at first. She asks one more time. "Excuse me, sir. What's your name?"

"Oh! My name! I thought you were speaking to yourself for a moment! Heh, sorry for the miscommunication. My name is-" The "puppet" is stopped from completing his sentence once more.

"Yeah, there's no point in wailing on the Thousand-Year Door." Mario says aloud. He appears to have calmed down significantly since the beating he tried to give the Thousand-Year Door. "There he is," Vivian says to the "puppet."

Mario turns around to see the "puppet" talking to Vivian.

…He knows exactly who it is.

"G-G-GENO?"

Mario is dumbfounded with the sight of Geno. He hasn't seen Geno for such a long time; Let alone seeing him here in Rogueport! It's been six years since their adventure of the Seven Stars.

"I can't believe it! Geno, you're actually here! Man, what a surprise to see you!" Mario says to Geno. "Heh, nice to see you too, Mario." Geno holds out his hand to give Mario a high-five. Mario slaps Geno's right hand with his own right hand, and the two boys use the back of their hand to slap once more. Vivian (literally) took note of their action. 'Oh, so THAT'S what you have to do when somebody raises their hand in such a manner. I hope I'll remember it next time.' Vivian thinks to herself.

"So, why are you here, Geno? I thought you were somewhere else… I can't remember where." Mario says to Geno. "Oh, me? I was just touring the world. Great pastime, if you ask me. I basically got nothin' to do anywhere else. Then I found THIS place! This 'Rogueport' you talked about in your letters seemed pretty excitin', so I wanted to check it out. It's a real cool place, dude." Geno replies. Mario notices that Geno hasn't really changed much over the years. He still has that same rough-n-tough attitude, and appears to show no difference.

"Then, I heard about this… CLOUD that we're on right now. I went to an archeologist here named Frankly Goom, who believed that somethin' was up with this place. 'Told me to check it out, too." Geno acts as if he finishes, and as Mario is about to speak, Geno clears his throat.

Then, he shifts his feet.

'This is gonna get serious,' Mario thought. Whenever Geno shifts his feet, he's about to say something really important.

"This is what I found. The cloud is built to be a circular area, as if the ancients used this for some sort of ceremony or ritual. Oddly enough, I found the bones of many of the Mushroom Kingdom's creatures, with the majority of the carcasses being Goombas, Koopas, some Shadows, and even HUMANS."

Vivian gasped. She never knew that all these creatures were used for these rituals. Some of her own race appears to have been used in the rituals that Geno describes. 'How odd…' She thinks to herself.

"Although I haven't found any dried organs, I did happen to find some bones near this pedestal in which Mario stands next to. This must be where the rituals were held. To the west of this area, there is a door blocking the way. It is not the Thousand-Year Door to the east of her, but it has some connection to it. The door has only ONE sun symbol on it, opposed to the ten symbols on the much larger Thousand-Year Door."

"Also, I've found some interesting hieroglyphics written on these clouds. I believe magic is what is keeping the cloud intact, and what allows it to be written upon." Geno shoves his hand into his robe and pulls out a few small clouds which appear to have been written upon. Vivian and Mario each take one to look at for themselves.

Both of them do not know what they mean. "Geno, these hieroglyphics have been lost in history, as Professor Frankly stated. He wasn't able to understand them. Can you?" Vivian says to Geno.

"Of course I can! I am from the mighty Star Road!" Geno scoffs.

Mario and Vivian remain silent and then look at each other, showing doubt in Geno.

"…Okay, that's not the reason. I just somehow happened to know what these mean. Apparently, they all mention something about the 'Ten Suns of the Olden Sky.' They talk directly about these 'Ten Suns' and no matter which slab of cloud you read, they state pretty much the same thing. HOWEVER, I found one that was different."

Geno pulls out yet another slab of cloud, but this one looks like a storm cloud.

"THIS… is different. Whenever I read it, it will write something entirely different each time I look at it. For right now, it's been stuck on this same message for about four hours…"

"It says this; "Ten Heroes. Ten Suns. The gifted Ten Suns shall bring this world to peace and stability. The Ten Suns will shine their bright to this world. Let the door open, and the door will guide the Ten Suns towards freedom and order. Be warned, as the Ten Deaths will stop at nothing from letting this from being achieved. Pray to the Ten Suns, Pray for all their might!" Geno finally finishes and catches his breath.

"Ten Heroes and Ten Suns… There are quite a lot of relations with suns in this cloud. Any idea on what it is?" Mario asks Geno, prying for the answer.

"…According to the rest of what I read, these "Ten Suns" are actually physical objects. They are the ten Crystal Suns." Geno replies.

Silence…

…The silence breaks two seconds after it had started.

"WHAAAAT!?" Mario and Vivian shout aloud, sounding out confusion and misunderstanding.

'I thought they'd say that,' Geno thinks to himself. "Yes, this is true. I'm not pulling your legs- um, Mario's leg. The hieroglyphics on this STORM CLOUD tablet said that the only way to find these ten Crystal Suns is with a map that the ancients created a long time ago. This may be yet another Magical Map such as the one you had last time, Mario."

Mario instinctively pulls out his Magical Map and shows it to Geno. "This was the Magical Map for the Thousand-Year Door back at Ancient Rogueport. I'm not sure that it will work again." Mario states.

Geno blankly stares at the Magical Map for a moment. "…This Magical Map can do more than show you the locations of the Crystal Suns. The map can change ENTIRELY. Since the Crystal Suns are all over the Mushroom Kingdom, using this Magical Map will be quite useful." Geno finally says to Mario and Vivian.

A ray of hope has just opened for the three heroes. "So that means we can find the Crystal Suns with the same Magical Map, Mario!" Vivian exclaims. "That's great! Now, what do we have to do now?" She directs her question back to Geno.

"Oh, that's pretty simple. Just step on that pedestal in front of the Thousand-Year Door." Geno replies to Vivian. When Geno says this, Vivian recalls how Mario was required to perform the same action back at Ancient Rogueport. "Mario, it's just like in Ancient Rogueport; just step on the pedestal and hold up the Magical Map!" Vivian tells Mario. Mario remembers as soon as Vivian tells the young hero. "Got it," he states firmly. He tugs his mighty red hat down to his head, and prepares to walk onto the pedestal.

Mario, Geno and Vivian all step on the pedestal, Geno and Vivian surrounding him. Mario holds his Magical Map skyward, hoping for the best. A shining ray of light descends from the great blue sky, into Mario's Magical Map! With a great many flashes, the Magical Map glows, flowing with magical power…

The event stops. Mario knows that he should look at the map. He notices that it does not show only Rogueport, but all of the Mushroom Kingdom itself! 'That's interesting… The Crystal Suns must be around the whole kingdom.' Mario thinks to himself.

But within seconds, the first Crystal Sun appears on the map. It is the color of a sapphire. The location appears to be an island in the shape of an aquatic animal, with one fin on the top. It contains a mountain with endless smoke coming from its volcano, but it is inactive. It also contains a plaza, an airstrip, a harbor, a bay, even a hotel and some beaches.

"…Alright, Vivian and Geno. I know where we have to go to first…" Mario says seriously, his cap covering his large eyes.

"…We're going to Delfino Island."

CHAPTER TWO END.


	4. 3: Lupo Greene

**Chapter Three: Lupo Greene**

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 20

"RING RING RING!" Mario's Mailbox SP was ringing in his pocket again. 'I wonder who it could be this time,' he thinks to himself. Mario arose from the bed he was lying down on and gets up. He puts his hand into his overalls that are hanging from the wall, and pulls the Mailbox SP out.

Eight hours have passed since the location of the Crystal Sun was displayed on the Magical Map. Mario, Geno and Vivian had stood in Podley's inn since the appearance, as they needed to formulate a plan on how to get to Delfino Island. Unfortunately, they weren't able to formulate that plan quickly enough. They were in quite a bundle from the start!

EIGHT HOURS AGO…

"Delfino Island is going to be a tough place to get to..." Geno stated to Vivian and Mario, who sat in chairs opposite of him. "The airplane that could take us there is quite expensive; the prices for a normal flight go up to Three-Thousand Coins a person. The airstrip in Rogueport only goes to Delfino Island once a year, as well. That flight happens within another twenty-four hours. We shouldn't wait until year Star Sprite, and we can't possibly get that much money within a day's worth of time."

Vivian, who took in as much information as she could, replied, "But wait, doesn't Mario have that kind of money? We just might have a chance!"

Mario just sat there silently. "…Right, Mario? You… DO have it, don't you?" Vivian asked, unsure why Mario was so quiet.

"…I USED to have that kind of money, but that was all revoked from me, after I tried to save the Mushroom Kingdom from an unruly change of laws. Princess Peach… not only did she raise the tax prices to unimaginable heights, but she also started to disrespect her lower authorities; Luigi and I being some of those lower authorities. She revoked our statuses as heroes and kicked us out of the castle faster than a Poison Shroom can kill you once you eat it. As of now… I can't access the necessary money to fund this trip." Mario mutters, but said it loudly enough so that Vivian and Geno could hear him.

"How terrible… I'm so sorry…" Vivian said in reply to Mario's comment, ashamed of asking the question in the first place. She didn't know that it would bother him so much, yet she needed the information.

"No, it's not your fault. Anyway, we should find another way to get there." Mario said back to Vivian and Geno.

"Sneaking onto the airplane isn't too hard, but I'd rather not steal a ride and end up going to Delfino Island only to be thrown in jail. Let's just see if we can find a way to the island tomorrow. For now, I'm getting PRET-TY tired." Geno yawned as he finishes speaking.

"Yeah, let's just hit the hay, guys…" Mario also yawned. Vivian was already asleep from being awake for so long, so Mario just picked her up and tucked her into a bed. Geno and Mario both got into separate beds and fell asleep.

PRESENT TIME

Mario checks his Mailbox SP for the e-mail he had just received. Mario can't quite see well; he just woke up. It takes him about a minute before he opens up the right e-mail.

"Dear Mario:

Hey there, it's Goombella again! I heard that you've been to the strange cloud from Professor Frankly. I know how it must feel to see ANOTHER Thousand-Year Door! It's totally crazy, but I believe it! Right now, I can't join you on your journey to opening the Thousand-Year door; I have to stay in Rogueport to research. However, I heard you needed a trip to Delfino Island. Go meet a person named Lupo Greene. She happens to be an expert at navigating Ancient Rogueport. She most likely knows if there are any Warp Pipes connecting to Delfino Island. Her house is a blue color; you can't miss it. I hope this information helps you in your journey.

Sincerely,

Goombella"

"Lupo Greene, huh…? She might be our only chance to get to Delfino Island," Mario says to himself, yawning and stretching out. He wonders who this Lupo Greene figure could possibly be. He's never met any people with the name of Lupo before.

Unaware of his surroundings, the Mailbox SP accidentally wakes up Geno.

Geno wakes up with very groggy eyes. "…Mario, turn that stupid thing off. It hurts my wooden ears." Geno murmurs quietly, but Mario can still hear him. "Whoops… sorry, Geno. Didn't mean to wake you up," Mario replies. He closes his Mailbox SP as he finishes reading Goombella's e-mail.

"By the way, where's Vivian? I didn't see her in her bed when I woke up," Mario asks Geno. "Oh, your little Shadow Maiden. She's cooking downstairs. Smells like we're having fried Mystical Eggs," Geno replies. Mario doesn't usually eat eggs for breakfast, but Mario thought that it would be nice once in a while. "Might as well go down and see what she's up to," Mario replies back to Geno. Mario and Geno then headed down the inn's stairs.

To their surprise, Vivian was quite outfitted to cook! She has a lovely purple apron equipped, to tackle on any cooking that came her way. She also has her scarf pulled up to her mouth, her scarf acting as protection for her face (Foods get quite bubbly on a frying pan). In a few seconds, she finishes making the Mystical Eggs.

"Oh, you guys are finally awake!" Vivian says as she turns around to serve the food. She places all three dishes onto the rectangular table in front of her. The Mystical Eggs were scrambled, which happens to be Mario's favorite. "Oh, this looks delicious, Vivian! Thanks for the breakfast!" Mario compliments Vivian's superb cooking. Vivian smirks when Mario says this. "Oh, it's nothing. Well, come and eat! We can't let the food get cold!" She commands, as the two other heroes go to sit down and eat.

As all three heroes sit down to eat the eggs, Mario notices something… unusual about everyone's eggs. The shapes of their scrambled eggs are all different. Geno has his meal in the shape of his own wooden face. Mario, on the other hand, has half of a heart as his egg shape. It was the right side of the heart. Vivian also has half of a heart, but it was the left side of a complete heart shape.

Mario stares at his eggs for a few seconds, then at Vivian. Vivian blushes, then smiles and looks away from him. 'I think I made it too obvious,' she thought to herself. Mario also blushes and thinks, 'This is… interesting. I don't think I've ever seen this from Vivian before. Well, let's hope it tastes good.'

Mario decides to eat the eggs and digs in. He immediately loves it. "Wow, Vivian! This is great food!" He exclaims to her. The eggs were cooked at just the right amount of time. The eggs have a buttery and spicy flavor to them, and that is just what Mario loves. "I thought you'd like it. Zess T. said the same thing. She must've made the same type of food for you." Vivian replies with a smile.

Geno was already finished eating his meal. "Oh boy, that was GOOD (but I did feel weird eating my own face). Cooking of this magnitude should be gourmet class!" he says, trying to keep in a giant burp. "I didn't know Ms. Shadow Maiden could cook so well."

Vivian gives Geno an evil-looking stare when he said Shadow Maiden for the second time. '…Shouldn't have done that.' The wooden hero thinks, gulping down his food. "What I meant to say was, 'Thank you for the meal, Vivian,'" he says to cover up what he had previously said.

The sound of thunder fills the inn. It sounds like a storm cloud is approaching Rogueport, and it could appear at any moment's notice. "It looks like it is going to be one of THOSE kinds of days," Mario says while looking outside the inn's window. "Let's get to the Warp Pipe in front of the professor's house before we get soaked."

As everyone finishes their food, Mario supplies everyone with umbrellas he borrowed from the inn, just in case it starts to rain as soon as they leave. Mario pays the innkeeper a tip of twenty five Coins and all three heroes leave.

As they're walking through the eastern side of Rogueport, Mario tells the crew what they're doing. "Alright, guys, here's the plan. We're looking for a woman named Lupo Greene. She currently lives in Ancient Rogueport, in a blue house that she had supposedly constructed herself. If one of us sees it, let all of us know."

Vivian and Geno both nod their heads, and all three heroes enter the Warp Pipe to Ancient Rogueport.

Silence filled the air in Ancient Rogueport. Surprisingly, it was quite docile for a place that's usually bustling with extremes and happiness. "This is… odd. Shouldn't we be hearing a LOT of commotion down here?" Vivian asks Geno.

"Yeah, this is definitely mind-boggling. Well, let's go ask someone why it's so quiet." Geno replies. In a few seconds, the team stops to ask a Koopa pedestrian why it's so quiet in Ancient Rogueport.

"Oh. That. I see what you mean. It kind of started a few hours ago, to be completely honest with you. Everyone noticed that a young named Lupo Greene was building a house under here. She built a house that should've been impossible for one person to perform, let alone one man! Yet in spite of that, she did it! Seven hours it took her; I saw it with my own Koopa eyes. It's just amazing what outsiders could do…"

This Lupo Greene figure appears to be everywhere Mario goes. He hasn't even met her, and it sounds like she's an experienced constructer. 'Wow, even I couldn't do that.' He thinks to himself. He's made buildings before, yet Mario couldn't do it by himself.

"Interesting… Do you know where her house is? We came to look for her." Geno asks the Koopa. "That's easy enough," The Koopa replies. "Her house is to the west of here. She set up camp next to the Thousand-Year Door. Go over there, and you won't miss it." The Thousand-Year Door that this Koopa is talking about is the very first one, here in Rogueport, not the one in the mysterious cloud.

"Thank you, kind sir. Now we'll be on our way." Vivian handshakes the Koopa and walks away with Mario and Geno. "So, it looks like we're going near the Thousand-Year Door #1 this time!" Geno laughs heartily. Mario didn't find the humor in Geno's comment and just continues walking to the west. "I… guess you didn't get it," Geno mutters, sounding annoyed.

About a minute later, Vivian starts chatting away with the other two. "I wonder who this 'Lupo Greene' person is! I wonder if she's some Toad supermodel, or a Goomba Warrior! Maybe she's a Koopaling, and we're falling into one of Bowser's traps! Nah, that just sounds unlikely. She might even be a Shadow like me! Oh, how cool would THAT be? I never had a constructer Shadow as an ally before! That would be AMAZI-"

Vivian bumps into a wall, cutting off her sentence. 'She wasn't paying attention… Again… Well, can't blame her.' Mario thinks to himself as he chuckles. "…Ouch." Vivian says, rubbing her face.

It turns out that the wall Vivian bumped into was in fact the blue house that the Koopa was talking about! But it was unlike any of the other houses in Ancient Rogueport. It was twice as wide and twice as long as any other house. It was also a sapphire blue color, which made it stand out like a golden Koopa shell. The house was made with some of the Mushroom Kingdom's finest metals, as well. It was an aesthetically pleasing house, indeed.

"Looks like we're here," Mario says to Geno and Vivian. Mario approaches the door and knocks on it. It sounds like a person behind the door is shouting unintelligibly, and it sounded like a young woman, yet with a nervous voice. Mario didn't know what could have happened, but he tries his hardest to stay polite.

"Hello? We're just normal people!" Mario shouts back in reply.

"…Oh, it's just someone else. Come on in." The voice behind the door says.

The door opens, and all three heroes enter the blue house. It was the most beautiful house Mario had ever seen. The inside of the hallway was decorated with so many unique designs, such as flowers and apples and many other fruits! The rooms were all painted differently. Some of them were red and yellow, and others were blue and green! Each room had gorgeous carpets in the middle of them. The house caused Mario to drop his jaw, and leave his mouth wide open.

"Oh… My Goodness…" All three heroes say simultaneously. Vivian and Geno were just as amazed as the mustached hero himself. This house should've been impossible to make in seven hours, but it was somehow accomplished. 'Amazing,' Mario thought, wishing he had a house like this.

"So, you like the place? I made it myself a couple of hours ago. Please excuse the mess, there are blueprints EVERYWHERE. Oh, and don't touch the walls, please! They're still wet with paint." The woman exclaims. None of the heroes can pinpoint the location of the woman, though. "Where is she?" Vivian asks Mario. "No clue," he replies.

"I'm right here." The woman says, her voice coming from the left of the house.

All three heroes turn to their left and see the woman. However, she doesn't seem like one of the usual civilians of Ancient Rogueport. She wasn't a Koopa, or a Goomba, and not even a Bob-Omb. She lacked the claws of a Monty Mole, and had no nose of a Wiggler. Overall, she was a lean figure. She stood as tall as Princess Peach (with her heels on) and wore black boots. Her overalls were a shiny red, coupled with a very greasy blue shirt. She had a smudge of oil on her left cheek, and lacked any kind of lipstick. Her eyes were a brilliant yellow color, almost the color of gold. Her hair was long and black, and looked quite wavy and as shiny as a star in the sky. One thing did stick out the most, however.

…She was a human.

'It's another human… just like Mario.' Vivian thinks to herself. Neither Vivian nor Geno have met many humans in their life. Humans are usually near Princess Peach's castle, not Rogueport at all. This is why Vivian was so amazed at the sight of a human woman.

"So, what are your names, you three? I don't believe I caught them.' The woman asks the three heroes. Mario was about to state everyone's names, but Vivian and Geno stepped in.

"Oh, my name is Vivian!" Vivian says. "My name is Geno. Nice to meet you, miss." Geno tries to say as if he was a gentleman. "My name is Mario! Are you Lupo Greene?" Mario happily states.

Silence fills the house when Mario states his name.

The woman just blankly stares at Mario, and then looks at him in the face. 'Why did she stop speaking?' Mario thinks to himself. The other two heroes just frown as this event occurs. None of the three know exactly why it became incredibly silent throughout the house.

"…Yes, I'm Lupo Greene…" The woman explains to the three heroes, and then looks at Mario. "And you're my godson."

Everybody's eyes open widely, and Mario begins to hesitate, being the most shocked of all. "Wait… WHAT? I have a GODMOTHER?" Mario never realized that he had a godmother before. He was shocked, yet amazed at the same time. "That… That's amazing! I never believed that I had a godmother! How come nobody ever told me about you!?"

"Well, to be completely honest, I'm also your older cousin. I baptized you when I was seven years old. You were only two years old when your aunt abandoned me. You wouldn't have known since your aunt disappeared on the same day she abandoned me. I had grown up without any of your family realizing I was still in existence. I was able to thrive because a few Monty Moles here in Ancient Rogueport found me, abandoned and sick. Eventually, they adopted and raised me." Lupo explains to the three heroes. "Let's sit down in the living room, and I'll explain to you more."

Lupo explained everything to Mario. Mario's mother, Mia, had gotten into a fight with her sister, which was Lupo's mother. They argued about Lupo's safety. A few years after Lupo's birth, her mother Sarah wanted to abandon Lupo, whom Sarah thought was "unnecessary." She ended up doing so when Lupo was indeed seven years old. Then, Lupo saw her mother fight Mia as they were arguing about her. Mia eventually defeated Sarah, who was trying to kill Mia. Mia then let Sarah go, and after that, she disappeared. Nobody thought that she died, and everyone was worried about her. It's been twenty two years since Sarah's disappearance, and Mia was still waiting for her to come back.

"That's terrible…" Geno says after he finishes hearing the story. Mario and Vivian looked at each other and then back to Lupo. "No kidding. I never even met my aunt, let alone a cousin acting as my godmother. This is… quite a big surprise for me..." Mario shares with the other three.

"Yeah, no doubt about that. I was wondering when I'd see you again. You still got those cute little cheeks!" Lupo starts to pinch Mario's cheek, bringing back some sort of nostalgia. "Hey, that hurts!" Mario starts to shout. Vivian and Geno both laugh heartily as this happens. 'Never thought that would happen.' Geno thinks to himself. 'Haha, they're almost like siblings!' Vivian thinks to herself.

To their surprise, Lupo tells the three other heroes that she is 29 years old, a whole five years older than Mario. Geno and Vivian didn't believe her immediately. "What? No way! You look like you're in your early twenties!" Geno exclaims. "Actually, this mostly happens to humans in Mario's family tree. None of us physically age past twenty years. And on rare occasions, some of us will never die of old age. Mario and I happen to share these traits. It's kind of scary to imagine, but it's true." Lupo replies. "We're… ehrm… kind of like superhumans, don't you think?"

"Wait, I do? Oh, now I remember! Mama Mia used to tell me that when I was a little kid, but I never understood it.

"Wow," Geno agrees. "You guys are definitely not regular humans. Regular humans don't age past 100, but to never die of old age… is pretty intense! Wicked, even!"

A few seconds later, Lupo changes the subject. "Now, what did you guys need me for in the first place? Got something cool for me to fix?"

"Actually, we need to get to Delfino Island, and we were told to go and find you. We have no idea how to get there other than by plane, and we have no money for that kind of trip. Can you give us a hand?" Mario states. He could really use all the help he could get to find all these Crystal Suns.

Mario then fills Lupo in on the ten Crystal Suns that he needs to find, in order to open the next Thousand-Year Door. Lupo understands the situation entirely. "Well, if you need to do something like THAT… I won't just help you… I'll join you, cousin." Lupo smirks and puts out her hand for the mustached hero to shake.

Mario grips Lupo's hand and firmly shakes. "That's fantastic! Now we're all set for Delfino Island! Thank you so much, Lupo!" Mario exclaims to his cousin and godmother. "Anything for my little cousin," Lupo replies, smirking.

Lupo exits her wonderful blue house by turning immediately to the right, near the Thousand-Year Door. She continues to lead the party several hundred feet, until she then has all four heroes group up next to a dirt patch. The patch seemed isolated and didn't seem to belong there. It was also in the very corner of the ruins they were in.

"This right here will take us to Delfino Island." Lupo explains to all three heroes.

All three heroes are puzzled. "This is just a patch of dirt, Miss Lupo. Are you sure it leads to Delfino Island? I don't see anything." Geno says, disappointed with the fact that all she did was lead the group to the patch of dirt.

"Well, let me explain. This isn't just any regular patch of dirt," Lupo starts to lecture Geno, Vivian and Mario. "In fact, this is an area we can use to build a Warp Pipe all the way to Delfino. It should take us there very quickly, judging by the quality of the dirt patch. It's very loose, and a dry brown color. If you could j-"

Then, all the heroes are shaken by a loud rumble that came from close by. "What? What's going on NOW?" Geno as It was then followed by a tremendous roar.

"MARIO! I FOUND YOU!" The voice roars, trembling the ground again.

"Oh my spaghetti meatballs, it's… THAT GUY." Lupo and Mario both say at the same time. They both know who it is.

It's that menacing fiend Bowser, the Koopa King. He's fought Mario so many times that it became meaningless to count! Bowser's spiky, green shelled behind is always trying to kill the mustached hero, and always at the worst times, too.

"I found you, you pesky son of a plumber! I'm here to finally kick your sorry behind! Now, get ready for a massive who-" Bowser cuts himself off midsentence. He sees that Lupo jumps right in front of Mario, and right in Bowser's face. Surprisingly, she jumps higher than Luigi, the jumping master! "Who are you, you little brat? Get out of my way!" Bowser shouts into Lupo's face.

"I'm here to fight you, of course." Lupo replies to Bowser, giving him an angry grin, and putting her hands on her hips. She then looks at her cousin Mario. "Don't worry; I can take this nimrod all by myself, no sweat."

Bowser laughs deeply and says, "Ha! What can a little girl like YOU do!? Get out of my way! I'm here for Mario's head, not yours!" Lupo is then punched by Bowser with massive force, and although it was half-hearted, it could have easily toppled over a top-class bunker!

...Lupo doesn't even move.

In fact, she doesn't even look damaged. "Well, well. It looks like we've got a barker. What was that supposed to be, because it felt like a FLEA just landed on me!" Lupo brags to the mighty Bowser. She then rubs the outside of her nose with her thumb, and prepares a battle stance. Her stance looks almost impossible to break, as if she planted her feet deep into the ground.

This infuriates Bowser so much that he starts spewing massive, poisonous flames into the air and stomping the ground furiously. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY POWER, YOU BRAT!? YOU ARE SO GOING DOWN ONCE I'M DONE WITH YOU!" Bowser then charges with all his might into Lupo, but she just tilts her head, and smirks. "Boy, you don't ever think, do you?" She quietly mutters to herself. As Bowser charges into Lupo, she merely stops him with her hand.

"Why did you think it was smart to charge right into me when you knew I'm not so easily moved? Shame, Bowser… Shame, indeed." Lupo grins. She then pushes Bowser into the nearest wall behind him, with little effort. Although Bowser was protected by his mighty shell, he still felt a big impact from hitting the wall.

"W-who is this woman, Mario!? Tell me NOW! Nobody can be that strong but ME! NOBODY!" Bowser starts to roar once more to Mario. "Oh, do you mean her? Well, let's say we have quite a bit in common!" Mario snickers, watching as Bowser continues to roar and pout.

"Shovel." Lupo randomly says in the middle of Bowser's bickering.

Out of nowhere, Lupo pulls out a yellowish black, medium sized device in her hand. The device has the name 'HAMDRAXEL' written on it with permanent marker. The device then transforms into the shape of a shovel, just as Lupo had commanded.

"Meet the Hamdraxel 1.3, Mr. King Koopa. It can turn into one of four VERY important construction tools. I'll just use the easiest tool for you to handle." Lupo creates a big smile on her oily face, and taunts Bowser by then sticking out her tongue. Bowser mutters, "I'm gonna rip out that tongue of yours, brat…"

Next, Bowser prepares to shoot his flames right at Lupo. He takes a very deep breath, indicating that he is prepared to fire. Mario, Geno and Vivian all duck and shield themselves in defense of the attack. "OH GOODNESS," Mario and Geno shout aloud. "Watch out, he's about to spew fire!" Vivian shouts aloud to Lupo, but she just stays there.

"I got this," Lupo says again. Next, she guards with her shovel, and embraces the attack. "RAAARGH!" Bowser roars and releases his fiery breath towards Lupo. The impact of the flames is devastating, and even pushes Lupo back a few feet. Her feet were loose from the ground, which had caused her to stagger. 'Whoa, he caught me off guard back there for a moment!' Lupo thinks to herself, and starts to push back into position.

Mario, Vivian and Geno were all dangerously close to the flames. Luckily, they were ducking and avoided getting burned by Bowser.

The flames stop, and Bowser looks at the damage he caused to Lupo, but smoke obscures the scene. "That ought to do it. Nobody can avoid getting scorched like that!" Bowser brags, clearing believing that the power of his flames had killed Lupo.

"Is she alright?" Geno asks Mario, who is watching the battle ensue. "Lupo had better be alright. She clearly has more fighting experience than I do. She'll be fine." Mario replies, smiling from ear to ear. He is extremely excited about this battle. 'This is amazing! I've never met such a powerhouse like her! And to think she's my godmother and older cousin… This is fantastic!' Mario thinks, hyping himself a lot for the following battle.

The smoke from the flame clears out, and Lupo is now in sight. She appears to be unharmed from the attack, thanks to her trusty Hamdraxel 1.3. Although she was unharmed, her Hamdraxel Shovel Form was scorched.

"Well, that was fun. Good thing my Ham-"

She noticed the scorch marks on the Hamdraxel's Shovel Form. This begins to have her break down emotionally. "You…you scorched my tool…" Lupo hesitates, trying to speak to Bowser. Her jaw drops and just stares at Bowser.

"HAHA! That's what you get, you little tomboy brat! Mess with Bowser, and you're just ASKING for a whooping!" Bowser brags.

He doesn't notice the immense speed that Lupo runs at him. In almost an instant, Lupo jumps up high and whacks Bowser in his Koopa face with her shovel. Bowser immediately falls down.

"Ugh…I just got… beaten by a girl… with a shovel, didn't I…? This is going to lower my reputation, isn't it…?" Bowser says just before knocking out from another strike from Lupo's Hamdraxel. "Don't scorch me tools, you knucklehead of a Koopa King! And don't ever come near this place AGAIN!" Lupo shouts into Bowser's unconscious face.

Lupo just defeated Bowser… like it was almost nothing.

The other three heroes are just staring at Lupo, eyes wide open. 'Wow, I never knew humans could be this strong!' Geno thinks to himself. 'She's amazing! I've never seen another woman as powerful as her!' Vivian thinks to herself. 'I'm at a loss for words here. Lupo just gave Bowser, BOWSER, a whooping like he was a baby!' Mario is astounded. He is amazed that his older relatives are even more powerful than himself, and also a bit jealous of Lupo for being so much more powerful!

Within a few seconds, Lupo isn't there.

"What the-? She's not here! She was just there!" Mario shouts, alerting Geno and Vivian. The other three heroes look frantically for Lupo, but she's not in sight. "Sugarbeans, where is she?" Geno lets out in concern. "Luuuupo!" Vivian yells aloud, hoping to get Lupo's attention.

A Warp Pipe then emerges a few seconds later from the dirt patch, along with Lupo exiting it. She exited with a hardhat equipped, implying that she was constructing the Warp Pipe. "As per your request, you three! Thy Warp Pipe is ready!" Lupo is smiling from ear to ear, and then ejects from the Warp Pipe.

"That was FAST… how in the world?" Mario tries to ask Lupo, who doesn't seem to be paying much attention. "Oh, you mean the pipe? It goes to Delfino Island, of course! Eh, it was halfhearted work anyway. I didn't even use titanium to make the pipe. All I used was that 'reinforced brick' junk that I find all the time down here…" Lupo then appears disappointed with her work.

"It took her… a minute… ONE MINUTE… to make a Warp Pipe to Delfino Island!" Geno says in disbelief. Lupo then explains why she was able to do it so fast. "I had placed a tracker on another Warp Pipe that I found in Delfino Island, and all it was doing was leading me to some dirt. It turns of that the same pipe was half-finished, so I was easily able to recreate the other half. I do gotta say, it isn't my best work. Had it not been for that other half, you'd be waiting for about another fifteen minutes." But how did she know the two connected? "I know they connect due to the sound waves the tunnels make. From each pipe, they make the same tunnel sounds. That sounds like reason enough to me."

Lupo's fantastic work set themselves a few days in advance! Now they don't have to bother with fancy flight costs to Delfino Island anymore! "GREAT! Now we can go get the first Crystal Sun! Alright, guys, let's go!" Mario was just dying to get to Delfino Island, and he was so close, too! All he has to do is enter that Warp Pipe and he's good to go!

"Wait. Before we go, let's make a promise, Mario." Lupo directs to Mario. "Huh? What is it, Lupo?" Mario asks in confusion. Lupo then proceeds to hug Mario. "Whuh?" Mario doesn't know what's going on, at all.

Lupo then whispers in Mario's ear, "Please… Don't ever leave me, alright? I need someone that I can trust with my life, and there's nobody else in the world except you and your wonderful friends!" Lupo starts to tear up a little bit. 'Man, she never had any real family to care for her. Her own mother abandoned her… It must be tough on poor Lupo…' Mario thinks to himself.

"Don't sweat it!" Mario replies, with a friendly smile on his face. Lupo smiles back at Mario and his other friends. Geno and Vivian both smile, and everyone started laughing, as if they were having a jolly good time.

Within a few minutes, the four heroes gather up by the Warp Pipe to Delfino Island. "Alright guys, this will take us to Delfino Island…" Mario begins to say. "Are you all ready to find the Crystal Sun?"

"Definitely, dude!" Geno replies to Mario, grinning.

"All set!" Vivian replies, her eyes shining furiously.

"I'm as prepared as ever!" Lupo replies, wiping her nose with her thumb once more!

"Well then, let's go!" First, Vivian and Lupo jump down the Warp Pipe. Next, Geno backflips several times and lands inside of the Warp Pipe. Finally, Mario jumps onto the Warp Pipe, but looks behind him for a moment, looking at Bowser's unconscious body.

"Smell you later, Bowser!" He says to the unconscious Koopa King. With that, he jumps down the Warp Pipe to Delfino Island!

CHAPTER THREE END.


	5. 4: Plumbers, Heroes and Heat

**Chapter Four: Plumbers, Heroes and Heat**

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 21

Mario and his friends were just near the end of the Warp Pipe. They could see the light at the end of its seemingly large tunnel. "We're almost there, Mario!" Vivian points at the light and shakes Mario a little bit to get his attention, but he already knew about it long before. "This is taking slightly longer than I had anticipated," Lupo says, disappointed with her flawed estimate. "Oh, I'm sure it's not too bad, Lupo. We all make mistakes," Mario exclaims, trying to encourage Lupo.

"I dunno about you guys, but I'm starting to feel a little warm." Geno blurts out. Come to think of it, Mario's been feeling the same way. "Geno's got a point. It definitely got hotter since entering." Mario replies, clearly agreeing with Geno.

"I WOULD make a portable fan right now, but you guys gotta man up a little," Lupo scoffs. "It's not even that hot. I don't even feel hot."

"Man, this sucks. I wanna just bash on some baddie with Geno Whirl or something. 'Usually makes me forget my troubles." Geno mutters. He's been pretty bored since coming to Rogueport. He hasn't done much fighting, either; just researching about many questions he's had lingering in his wooden head.

"Well, Geno, you just JINXED IT. Way to go, smart aleck." Lupo yells, and points ahead of the crew. They all appear to be seeing a rock shaped creature with spikes on its head, and it also has boots. It was also pretty big in size, bigger than Lupo.

Vivian decides to pull out the Tattle Log. This time, however, she finds out what creature it is faster than before. "Okay, guys… This is a big Moon Cleft. These things have a very tough defense, and they're pretty brutal when they land a hit on you. But, what's a Moon Cleft doing in a Warp Pipe…?" Vivian questions the fact that a Moon Cleft is in this pipe instead of on the moon, where it SHOULD be.

"Me pound da stupids to GROUND! Me will STOMP an' BASH you." The Moon Cleft lets out. Most of the crew just stands there and listens to its gibberish. "Also, the Moon Clefts are quite…slow when it comes to education. They couldn't pronounce any kind of sentence correctly, even if they tried to." Vivian adds, displaying the nervousness in her face.

Lupo looks at Mario, and she looks anxious. "Are we going to give this guy a Wrecking Crew whooping?" Lupo asks anxiously, aching to fight something since entering the Warp Pipe. "Not us; just let Geno handle him. He hasn't fought in a while," Mario replies, knowing how Geno was feeling.

"Alright then… let's throw down, Cleft!" Geno asserts the Moon Cleft. He steps up to the Moon Cleft and stares at him dead in the eyes. "Oh, so WOOD MAN wants to fight ROCK MAN, Huh!? This gonna be… EASY!" The Moon Cleft shouts in response to Geno. Geno sweats a little bit, because he doesn't have any idea as to what kind of power this Cleft has.

"Also, Geno… The Moon Cleft is about thirty-" When Vivian tries to finish, the Moon Cleft charges right into Geno. The Cleft starts pushing him backwards at an enormous rate, and Geno is several hundred feet behind where he was just standing. "Woah, this guy is incredibly strong! Vivian, I need a little backup here!" Geno starts to shout. "Oh my…" She mutters. "The Moon Clefts are about thirty times stronger than Bowser when it comes to raw strength! Wait for me, Geno, I'll join you!" She then disappears into the ground as a shadow, and nobody was able to see her.

"Oh, so THAT'S what a Shadow can do, huh? Interesting…" Lupo ponders around for a while. "Never thought it to be true, but I guess it works!"

As the Moon Cleft is pushing Geno back, Vivian reemerges right next to him. "FREEZE, VILLAIN!" She shouts aloud, pointing at the Cleft while making a gun gesture with her left hand. As this happens, the Moon Cleft starts to freeze from his feet up. "SCARY SHADOW BE FREEZING ME! NO FAIR!" This is what the Moon Cleft says before freezing completely.

Geno is silent, and flabbergasted by Vivian's fantastic effort to help Geno. "…Thanks for the help." He finally lets out. Next, he kicks the iced Moon Cleft across the floor of the pipe, and then he steps back. "GENO WHIRL!" he shouts, and he puts his hands up into the air. Next, he throws his hands down to throw his magical spell, the Geno Whirl, at the Moon Cleft. The force of the strike was so powerful that the ice broke, and the Moon Cleft was left unconscious.

Geno smirks and says, "Well, that was a bit interesting. Never fought one of these guys, but it was still not that challenging." Mario, on the other hand, was quite impressed by the teamwork Vivian and Geno had displayed. "Great job, guys! That was amazing teamwork from you two." Mario shouts aloud. "Umm… What he said!" Lupo asserts the two.

"Well, Ms. Shadow Maiden saved me from getting bruta-"

Vivian smacks Geno in the back of the head with incredible force, inflicting some serious pain. "Don't be such a scumbag, Geno. You're lucky I even thought about helping you." She adds, along with another smack to the back of poor Geno's head. "Darn it, Vivian! I was just playing around with you!" Geno angrily replies, rubbing the back of his wooden head. "Just think about calling me that next time…THINK ABOUT IT." She mutters.

After a short while, the four heroes get back to the end of the Warp Pipe. First, Vivian exits the pipe, then Lupo is next, next up is Geno, and finally, Mario exits the pipe.

All four are welcomed with the sight of Delfino Plaza, the dolphin island's main tourist attraction. What they see is what has remained for quite a while. They see the giant Pianta statue in the square, along with eastern and western bells. The tiled marble floor looks aged, but is still as elegant as before. The Tanooki's Blue Coin Shop is still up and running all the way to the west. They could see Ricco Harbor, Pinna Park, even the Pianta Village! Most of all, they see a large number of Piantas running around quite aimlessly.

But one thing was quite different, although not as obvious…

It was hot. So hot that it quickly became unbearable for the heroes. Even Mario was starting to feel it, despite his ability to withstand very high temperatures!

"Oh my goodness! This is just… insane! Better take these baggy clothes off, quick!" Lupo shouts. She runs to the closest house and enters it, and she doesn't come out for quite a while. Next, they hear a male Pianta yelling from the same house, and dashing out of it. The other three heroes stay silent for a while…

"…Is she… changing?" Vivian asks Mario. Mario is unsure, and replies, "Maybe, I dunno for sure."

Geno who although appearing calm and collected, is feeling just as hot as the other heroes. "This temperature rises any higher and I'll light on fire," He mutters to Mario, who starts to show some concern on his face.

Mario then hears the muffled sound of Lupo's voice through the house in which she entered. "D'oh, I've only got THIS to wear! Well, guess it'll have to do!" Her muffled voice lets out.

In the second after, Lupo flings herself out the house, with completely different clothes on. Instead of red overalls and a blue shirt, she wore a pair of shorts that were made of denim, yet her utility belt (Of course it held her favorite tool, Hamdraxel 1.3) was still there. She also had a green t-shirt with Luigi's smiling face on it.

When Geno sees Lupo, he has no idea what to say, and shouts, "Um…looking good, Lupo…I guess." Lupo blushes, and then shouts back, "Thanks, but I had nothing else to wear! I SO wanted to wear that cute-looking shirt with that Goomba pulverizing the heck out of that Bob-Omb! I didn't have it, so I had to use this one…" She points at her t-shirt when she says this to Geno.

"Cute. Now, let's talk about something more important right now. Why is it so hot in Delfino Island? It's crazy!" Mario asks the crew, who also ponders the same thing. "For one thing, the temperature is about 160 Degrees Fahrenheit. These are incredibly hot temperatures, yet everything seems to be alright here. What in the world is going on here!?" Lupo says, with an alcohol thermometer in her left hand.

Suddenly, another Pianta rushes over to the four heroes. "Oh, so it is true! Mario and his friends are finally here! It's such a pleasure to meet you." He says to Mario, shaking his hand in the process. With this, Mario asks the Pianta why Delfino Island is such an incredibly hot place on a year like this.

"Well, it all started a few months ago on Month Flower. During that time, the Shine Sprites acted weirdly. Not only did we get too much power from the sun, it also increased the temperature! We Piantas are unaffected by this kind of heat, but not any tourists! Also, we took a count of all the Shine Sprites, and there were at least 300 of them!" The Pianta exclaims to the four heroes.

Shine Sprites take the appearance of stars, but have six points. There are three on the top points and three on the bottom. There are orbs on the top points of the Shine Sprite. They contain a large amount of heat energy, and the sun's rays are usually attracted to it. Given a large amount of Shine Sprites, a piece of land could be dangerously heated up by them.

Mario's jaw dropped. He never knew that such an amount of Shine Sprites even existed. He recorded at least 120 Shine Sprites during his vacation at Delfino Island with Princess Peach. To imagine more than three hundred of them was absurd. 'Mama Mia, I've never heard of that before.' He thinks. Mario knew that something was wrong, and this caused some concern.

"THREE HUNDRED SHINE SPRITES!?" Vivian yells, almost at the top of her lungs. "What kind of phenomenon would allow THAT to happen? Mario, something MUST be done! We should go check it out now!"

"Hold your horses, guys. Do you think that the Crystal Sun has anything to do with the increased amount of Shine Sprites in the area?" Geno asks the crew, who stop for a while to decipher the question. "Hmm… maybe, Geno. For all we know, the Crystal Sun itself could be causing that increase." Mario replies with a stern look of agreement. "We should start looking around for clues, though. Let's not assume anything just yet." Lupo jumps in. "So, we should start by exploring in the other main attractions of Delfino Island. Ricco Harbor is the closest, so let's go there."

"Great, because we can get there by a small portal next to the Blue Coin Shop! Let's go, quickly." Mario points over to the Blue Coin Shop, and dashes to it. Next, he jumps right in, and disappears. The other three heroes gasp in amazement as he does so, and they continue to jump in at the same time.

To their surprise, the three heroes were at Ricco Harbor. They saw Mario in the distance, waving at them. "Look, there he is! Let's follow him," Vivian points at Mario. Geno, Vivian and Lupo then run over to him.

"Ricco Harbor is just as hot as the plaza. So it isn't just affecting the plaza, but this entire island. If we look around here, we just might find some clues to help solve this mystery." Mario explains to everyone. All of them understood him and walked with him.

After a short time jumping and dashing all over Ricco Harbor, they were pretty much stumped. "Darn it, this isn't helping at all, flailing around like Cheep Cheeps out of water. We need to actually plan something out." Mario mutters angrily, his face towards the ground in frustration.

"Mario, heads up." Geno suddenly says to Mario, and pointing to the south of Ricco Harbor. Mario looks up from the ground and he sees an odd event occurring. There is a somewhat large group of Shine Sprites on top of one of the houses, right next to the cargo area.

"What the…?" Mario lets out in a sort of confusion. "What are those Shine Sprites doing there?" The other three heroes look up in confusion as well. "Well, we might as well find out what they're doing, so let's bounce," Lupo states. Next, everyone hops and leaps towards the Shine Sprites. When they get to the building, they noticed that there are no footholds surrounding it. They can't get up there! It's too massive to scale, and there's nowhere to perform any wall-jumps.

"If only there was another wall, I could wall-jump. Hmm…" Mario, deep in thought, tries to formulate some sort of plan. For a moment, there was total silence, save the noise of the ocean and the chirping of birds nearby…

"I got it!" Mario shouts aloud to himself. "Guys, let's go to that tower over there!" He points towards the Tower right next to Ricco Harbor's docking station. They start off by reaching the top of the tower, yet Lupo and Geno have no idea what he's thinking about. "What are you…doing, Mario?" They ask him.

Mario merely smirks as he jumps high into the air and spins trice. In a few seconds, he has transformed into a massive paper airplane. He's large enough to hold all three of his friends, and then some!

"As soon as we hop in, we have to push Mario off the tower. I know it sounds a little crazy, but trust me on this one!" Vivian states, once all three hopped onto the Airplane Mario. As they all jump on, Vivian pushes Airplane Mario off of the tower.

Immediately, they start to fly in the air! Mario is capable of taking them across towards the Shine Sprites. "Wow! This is amazing! I didn't know Mario could do this!" Geno yells, while holding on to Airplane Mario for his life. Lupo stays silent, but with a beaming smile on her face, her golden eyes shining once more.

"Well, Mario IS cursed, you know." Vivian explains. "He's been able to do this since his first trip to Rogueport. You see, there were these spirits inside large, gray chests, and they posed as demons, but they turned out to be really nice spirits in the end. They like to scare people into thinking they're doomed, while actually helping them out in the process. This is his first curse, Airplane Mario. This should be nothing to him now. All we have to do is keep waiting for a little while, and we'll be there." A few seconds later, Mario starts to lose speed, but they were already at the top of the building already. Once he lands, a puff of smoke appears, and he's back to normal.

However, everyone is still on top of him, forcing him onto the ground.

"Hey guys, you can get off of me now." He mutters to his friends. Normally, he would be able to get all of them off easily, but he believes that it is rude to throw his friends off of his back when they are accidentally sitting on top of him.

Lupo, Geno, and Vivian all jump off of Mario's body, and he pulls himself up by using the scaffolding right next to him. Next, they catch sight of the Shine Sprites right next to them, which were flying around aimlessly.+

"Why are these things here? There's nothing significant about them at all." Geno says, disappointed that they had come all the way to these Shine Sprites for nothing. Vivian takes a look, and agrees with Geno. "Yeah, I don't see anything 'special' about these Sprites." She also exclaims with disappointment.

Lupo however, finds the Shine Sprites to be doing something…odd. "This is strange…They're all looking at the same direction, North. They're not necessarily LOOKING at anything either, but just in that direction." She says while pondering about. There was silence for a moment.

"Wait a minute…North…hmm…" Vivian stops for a moment to pull out her Tattle Log. She then scrolls to a map of Delfino Island. She looks towards the place that is directly north of Ricco Harbor. "North of here is Bianco Hills. Maybe they're pointing towards this location?" She says as she analyzes the map for a few more seconds, and then closes her Tattle Log. "Anyway, we should get going. It's getting hotter by the hour, and it's only going to be worse."

After exiting Ricco Harbor, Mario stops for a second. "Wait a minute…There's another portal to Bianco Hills, right on the statue. Let's go there!" Mario then breaks into a dash, and for a few moments, he was running like crazy.

All of that was stopped short when he saw the mighty Bowser in the Plaza's square.

"OH SNAP. HE'S HERE." Mario stops dead in his tracks and hides behind the nearest building to avoid detection from Bowser. "Psst, guys, over here. Bowser's in the square." He says quietly, and grabs the attention of the other three.

Mario and friends eavesdrop on Bowser's conversation with one of the local Piantas that happened to pass by.

"Hey, you! YOU!" Bowser roars at the Pianta. "Where's that nimrod Mario and his chumps-for-friends!? I need to pound 'em RIGHT NOW! They've made a fool out of me for the last time, and I swear, it WILL be the last FLIPPING TIME!" Bowser shouts, clearly infuriated with what had happened a few hours ago.

"Looks like somebody needs their diaper changed," Geno quietly snickers to himself. "But that's beside the point. How are we going to get past him without arousing suspicion? If we get caught sneaking around here, he could set us back by months. I really would love to see what's behind that Thousand Year Door, and I don't want Mr. Spiky Shell over here to ruin it."

"Let's just listen to what they're saying, and then we'll figure out what to do afterwards." Vivian mutters, hushing Geno for a while.

"Well, I haven't seen Mario here for quite a while. Are you sure you didn't get LOST, Mr. Bowser?" The blue Pianta responds to Bowser.

"No, I DIDN'T get lost! I followed him through that Warp Pipe, so of course he's here! Now scram before I roast you like a Mushroom Kebab!" Bowser yells again at the Pianta. The Pianta simply leaves without any second thoughts.

"And I already thought it was bad. Now what do we do?" Geno asks his friends, but none of them were right next to him, not even Mario.

"Um…guys? Where are you...?" He says once more. Next, a hand pulls Geno by the cape and onto the rooftop. It just so happened that the hand belonged to Lupo, who hoisted him up. "You're such a lightweight," she cracks a joke. "Now then, we shouldn't get discovered as long as we keep our heads down."

When she says this, Mario instantly goes down as low as much as he can. "Yeah, I don't want that loser finding us, especially here. Who knows what he'll do when he finds about the Crystal Suns…" he says in conjunction. Lupo also shows some concern on her own face, as well. "Don't worry, little cousin," she whispers to Mario. "When he leaves, we can continue. For now, just hold on tight." Next, Lupo gives Mario a harmless head-butt (or what she thought was harmless, because Mario felt it, and it hurt a LOT) and silences.

"When I'm through with that plumber…WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH HIM… I dunno what I'll do. Maybe destroy Link and his house, or something because he's being a nuisance lately. Ugh, I hate it when he keeps stealing all the plans to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, too. That green-hatted Hyrulean better keep his grubby hands to himself…" Bowser mutters to himself.

"Link? Who's Link, Mario?" Vivian asks Mario quietly to avoid getting detected.

"Vivian…He is by far…the greatest man that has ever lived. There's nobody else who's as kind and caring, yet smart and adventurous as Link himself. He may not be the strongest, but boy, does he know how to fight! I don't think even Bonetail could take him on, given how powerful he was to us back then!" Mario replies Vivian.

Link is a young man, around the same age as Mario. He wears a green tunic and hat, along with some of the strongest chainmail ever created underneath. He is a swordsman, and he uses the powerful Master Sword, the blade of evil's bane. He is a loner, and does not travel with many friends. He has fought many powerful monsters and demi-gods. A long while ago, he had defeated Ganondorf, the King of Thieves, before he could rule over the entire world.

"But the thing is…" Mario starts to ask. "Link is doing something pretty difficult for even THREE grown men, stealing empirical war plans like they were nothing, from what it seems. Bowser's got quite a lot on his hands…"

"This Link dude you guys talk about… sounds really cool, in my opinion. I wonder if he really CAN fight better than anyone else…" Geno whispers. "I want to fight this guy!"

Next, Bowser starts to make his way off the plaza and into his Koopa Clown Car, a flying vehicle in the shape of a clown's face. When this happens, Vivian pulls her three friends into the shadows to avoid being spotted by him. Luckily, Bowser did not notice them in time and flew off at the drop of a pin. Vivian watches him leave, and brings the other three above the ground once more.

Lupo did happen to hold her breath, though. When she emerged, she still closed her golden eyes tightly and held her breath. "Lupo, please calm down! We're back on the surface, there's no need to do that anymore!" Mario starts to shake his godmother furiously, and this caused Lupo to hold her breath even tighter.

As a last resort, Mario tickles his godmother with his fingers, and it seemed to work. "Haha, Mario, stop that! That's not funny!" She tries to resist the urge to laugh, but couldn't help it at all. 'I knew that'd work,' he thought to himself while he snickers tickling Lupo nearly to death.

"Hey guys, 'appreciate it if you stopped, so we can go to Bianco Hills." Geno mutters impatiently. Vivian was also feeling the need to fidget around, as well (she can't stand waiting for long periods of time). Mario stops tickling Lupo when he hears this, sighs, and returns to the statue in the square.

"Mario, wait up a second." Lupo commands him, and he stops. "You just HAVE to tell us more about this Link figure that you spoke of. Exactly what MAKES him the greatest man that ever lived?"

"You wouldn't believe how thoughtful and kind he is towards others. He acts like a saint towards every single one of his friends and everyone looks up to him," Mario starts to explain. "He basically started with nothing, as an orphan on the streets, nobody to care for him, except for a certain magical tree that adopted him. Right now, he's known to have saved all life several times in a row, due to Ganondorf's evil plans. Nobody and I mean NOBODY believed that he was up to the task at first. Boy, were they wrong once they tried to fight him with a sword."

"Are you saying that he's a master swordsman? I've heard of better, he's probably a wimp," Geno replies. Mario wanted to punch him in the mouth for saying that, but he keeps his cool. "He's the best Hyrulean Knight known to man, you jerk. Weapon or not, he could destroy all of us easily, whether it be as a team or one-on-one combat. Any person who decides not to mess with him is a smart person. The others are fools who don't know any better." Mario replies back and looks at Geno as if he murdered somebody.

"Well, well, then. I want to see a picture of him, Mario. This 'saint' better look as good as he sounds," Lupo chuckles and nudges Mario on the shoulder. Mario then pulls out a picture of his good friend Link.

He has silvery-blonde hair, just like Princess Peach. He wears the same green tunic and hat that Mario told them about, but it looks somewhat tattered with the tears in the fabric. He has a large sword with a scabbard on his back, which happens to be his Master Sword. He has a big, bright smile, teeth displaying and eyes shut tight. He was about Lupo's height. He has his arms around a crimson-haired woman, who had a broach on with a small handkerchief being clipped together by it. She appeared as a farm girl who worked in a ranch in the background. She was very attractive and she was a pretty young woman, as well. Mario stated that this woman was Link's older cousin.

"So that's Link, huh? Interesting. I thought he would look different." Geno says in interest. Mario smiles and looks at Vivian, who is confused about something. "Mario, what does he sound like? Does he talk a lot, or do his actions speak more than his words?" She asks him.

"He doesn't talk much when he's alone. When he's with close friends, he's not that shy to talk with them. Yet the strangest thing about him is that he rarely becomes mad. Only if a tragic event occurs does he get angry." Mario replies, frowning and looking at the floor.

"…Like that one time…It was horrible." He pulls his hat down to cover his eyes. "Ganondorf had nearly killed Link's older cousin, Malon. She was beaten and abused because Ganondorf was looking for a way to make Link come out of hiding and fight him. When he had found out about this… he went berserk. He defeated and nearly killed Ganondorf in response, and he felt mixed emotions about sparing him again for what he had done. It was heart-breaking for all of us at the Smash Dojo to hear of this. Ever since, he's been defending Malon with his own life at stake."

"Oh, I see…that's terrible. He's been through a lot of things that we couldn't even imagine would happen to us…" Vivian says, feeling ashamed for some reason. "I sure would've felt the same way if someone attacked my family like that… It's scary to even think of." Geno also states in response.

"But we all learn to move on, even during dark times. For now, we'll continue searching for the Crystal Sun in Delfino Island. We'll talk more at a later time." Mario says again, and pulls his hat back up. He looks as if nothing had happened at all, smiling as bright as can be. All of a sudden, he backflips right into the portal, and his friends follow him, with clear minds about them.

At Bianco Hills, one of the most mountainous places in Delfino Island, Mario and his friends were searching about once more for the signs that the Shine Sprites indicated earlier. As they do this, the temperature of Delfino Island rises to even more dangerous heights. It was about 170 Degrees Fahrenheit this time, a whole ten degrees higher than it was a few hours ago. The temperature was rising at a fast rate, so everyone needed to search faster.

Fortunately for them, some Piantas had spotted another group of Shine Sprites on top of the giant Windmill in the center of Bianco Hills. Lupo built some ladders for Geno and Mario to climb with her Hamdraxel 1.3 Hammer Form. She used basic tools; wood and nails that she kept in her utility belt. To their surprise, Geno and Mario were supported by the ladder, proving that it was sturdy.

When they reach the top of the Windmill, they see the Shine Sprites the two Piantas were talking about. "Finally, we found these little buggers. Now, tell us your secret…" Lupo analyses the Shine Sprites' direction that they're facing. This time, however, they were pointing in an odd location.

"Vivian, please check the Magical Map again. I have no idea what place they're looking at." Lupo asks Vivian. With this, Vivian takes out the Tattle Log and finds the Magical Map inside. She checks the map and finds something…odd.

"Lupo, there's no town or main attraction Northeast of here. It's just Corona Mou-" Vivian, who is shocked at what she finds, stops herself short. "Oh, don't tell me we have to go THERE! Darn it, I wanted to stay cool for once, not get even hotter and burn up!" She tells Geno, Lupo and Mario that they have to go into Corona Mountain to find the next possible whereabouts of the Crystal Sun. "I may be tough, but this possessed body of mine can't handle the inside of a volcano. I'll end up dead in that place, and there's nothing around this forsaken island for me to possess. What do I do?" Geno asks the crew, disappointed. When he asks this, Mario and Vivian have no idea around helping Geno.

Lupo, on the other hand, comes up with a great idea. "Hmm… Maybe if we could make metal plating for you, you could withstand the heat of the volcano! If I can get my oily hands on some Koopa Shell grease and some titanium, I could make you a fire-resistant barrier! Hehe, it sounds like a great idea; a great idea INDEED." Lupo suggests with the smirk of a mad scientist. Geno likes the idea, but hasn't a clue on trying to find a way to get his own mitts on the stuff she needs.

"They usually have some Koopa Shell grease in the store. Check there for some, and Mario and I will go to Pianta Village to extract titanium from some giant mushrooms that naturally grow the stuff." Vivian tells the team.

"Alright then, guys! Lets-a go!" Mario throws his arm into the air and starts to head towards Pianta Village. He gets a hold on Vivian's delicate hand, and leads her toward the Warp Pipe on top of the Shine Gate. They enter the Warp Pipe with high hopes

Meanwhile, Geno and Lupo start to look for the store, but they have no idea where it is. "Aw, fiddlesticks. Where is that darn store? I haven't caught a glimpse of it yet. You have any clue where it is, Lightweight?" Lupo asks Geno, who doesn't seem to take the nickname of "Lightweight" so easily. 'Now I know how Vivian feels,' Geno thinks to himself, and nods his head a little bit. Now, he looks around in search of Delfino Plaza's department store, and walks around a bit with Lupo.

"So, Lupo…This 'armor' that you're making me…have you done this before? I've never had an upgrade before now…" Geno tells Lupo in excitement, hoping that everything comes out alright. "Hey, I just didn't want you to be left out of the fun, bud. It's not cool to leave your friends behind, no matter how dumb or lightweight they are. So, trust me that this comes out alright, okay?" Lupo gives a toothy smile to Geno, with her big golden eyes glowing. Geno can now rest easily, knowing that he has a master of construction helping him out.

"Thanks, Lupe." He replies. As he does so, something catches his attention. It is in fact the sign for the store! They were just about to pass it, until Geno spoke out. "Wait, the store's right there! Yes! Now we can get the Koopa Shell grease! Let's go!" Suddenly, Geno grabs Lupo's arm, and pulls her towards the store.

The department store is quite big for something that is usually small. It has every appliance you could possibly need. Wrenches, Screws, Hammers, metals, and even paint were scattered across the store, and it was pretty crazy, in Geno's opinion. For Lupo, however, she thought that this was paradise.

"This is…AWESOME. Everything that I use is here, and then some! It's heaven on earth, and by gosh, it is fabulous! C'mon, we have to find that Koopa Shell grease! It's here somewhere!" Lupo says, but here voice is so quiet and high pitched that only Geno could hear her, and even he had trouble hearing her. "Okay, jeez. Let's ask the manager before you get all riled up." Geno says with worry, seeing that Lupo is completely blinded by amazement.

When they go to the store clerk, they don't see the person at first. "Where is that guy? This place is getting hotter by the minute, and we've got no time to waste! Hello!? Is anyone here?" Geno shouts through the store. Total Silence. Nothing dared to answer him, not even the sounds of the small animals lurking around the place.

"Wow, this place is just… abandoned. I thought it was livelier, you know." Lupo says, disappointed. "Do you think we can still find that Koopa Shell grease?"

"From the looks of it, we may be able to, but who are we going to pay? Nobody's even IN the darn shop." Geno replies. "But now that you mention it…how did we NOT notice that nobody was even here? Something doesn't quite fit in this puzzle…"

Geno and Lupo believe that they had stumbled upon an abandoned department store, yet there are so many supplies lying around. They start to look around the dim shop for any clues. The place looks as if it had been untouched for years, but the two heroes aren't buying it at all.

"This…doesn't make sense. Why would all of this stuff be here? I even have what we need, and not a soul is coming to stop us from stealing it. Is this some sort of game?" Lupo ponders around the store some more, completely puzzled by this strange event.

Geno and Lupo then gather back at the register in front of them. They see that a small bell was placed on top of the register. 'Maybe somebody has been here all along.' Geno thinks. Geno rings the bell once. Nothing quite happens. "Jeez, this isn't cutting it at all. Try again, Lightweight." Lupo commands with a serious look on her face. Her face encourages Geno to ring the bell once again.

This time, however, a trapdoor was released under the two heroes.

The two were falling at an immense rate, and cannot see what's going on. They don't even know where they might be going. All they can look at is the abyss below them, and nothing more…

CHAPTER FOUR END


	6. 5: A Date with a Really Angry Death

**Chapter Five: A Date with a Really Angry Death**

Year Star Star: Month Moon: Day 22

"Ugh… that was a nasty fall."

Geno has just woken up, and his vision is slightly impaired. For a moment, he can't quite see anything. Only until he blinks his eyes a few more times does he see the mess that he's in.

"Motherless Bandits!" He spurts out, to his surprise.

He realized that he and Lupo have fallen into one of the oldest traps in the book, which was the trapdoor. Not only this, but he found himself chained to a surgical table. He notices the chains closely, and sighs in relief. "Well, somebody doesn't know how to keep a master of puppetry and a hulking mass of destruction in their places… these things are flimsier than a Dry Bones'… well, bones." Geno knows that these chains are pretty easy to break, but he wants to see where this is going.

Next, Geno searches for Lupo, who was in a surgical table right next to him. She was unconscious, but looked as if she were dreaming about something wonderful. 'Good; now I know she's here, but I need to know where in the world we are.' Geno decides to stay shut, and pretends to be unconscious.

A few minutes pass by, and nothing has happened. Geno opens his eyes again to scan the room, but there are only two lights in the room; one shining over each of them. At this rate, Geno was starting to become impatient. 'I really need to know who's doing this, because when I get out… I'm going to see to it that this guy pays.' He thinks to himself.

As soon as he thinks of this, he hears footsteps from a distance. They sound pretty heavy, and Geno can hear the clanking of some sort of armor as each footstep collides with the floor. He could also tell that the footsteps are coming from his left. 'Oh boy, someone's coming. I better stay quiet.' Geno thinks to himself. He then closes his eyes and pretends to be unconscious once more.

The footsteps get closer and closer to Geno, and he starts to get nervous. 'What is this guy doing? Is he going to try ta' kill me?' Geno thinks frantically. He doesn't know whether to strike or not, seeing that nothing has quite happened yet. The footsteps then stop right next to Geno. Geno feels as if his pulse was going up, even though he has no actual organs, much less a heart. He tries to stay calm, even for the tiniest fraction of a second.

But, the person seems to take ahold of one of Geno's chains. The person was trying to break it.

The person also wasn't a fool. "I know you're awake, so please stop pretending." He says. Geno knows that he's been caught. "Darn it," he says in response. "I thought I would've fooled anyone like that." However, at this point, Geno doesn't have any idea why this person is breaking off his chains.

Geno opens his eyes to see who was taking off his chains. To his surprise, this person wears a green tunic, along with a sword and shield strapped onto his back. He carries a load of items with him as well, making him appear as if he was heavy. He had blonde hair as well, and appeared no older than Lupo herself.

It was indeed the Hero of Time, Link! Geno had finally met Link himself! "Wait a minute… you're Link, aren't you!?" He shouts aloud, hoping that nobody else was around to hear him. "Huh, that's right. I had no idea Mario introduced me to you. I guess he really had some reason to." Link replies with a smile. He appears to know that Geno is one of Mario's friends. How he knows is unknown to Geno himself.

"Thanks for helping me, but I could've gotten out of these things myself. Any help IS appreciated however," says Geno, breaking off the rest of his own chains. Link simply nods and looks towards Lupo, who also appeared unconscious.

"Say, who's the girl? She looks like a sweet person. She also bears some resemblance to someone… Is she your girlfriend?" Link innocently asks, not attempting to be rude at all. However, he accidentally made Geno blush, and he retaliates. "No, she is NOT! That's Mario's godmother and cousin, Lupo Greene! Why would you even ask that?" Link appears to be struck with sorrow, and apologizes for the misconception. He also learns about Lupo's story, and why Mario hasn't mentioned her at all.

"Wow, that's scary." Link responds, knowing how Lupo must've felt when she was a little girl. Next, Link breaks off her chains as well, and all of a sudden, she springs back to life. "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Lupo then punches Link in the head with her free arm, and although the blow would've killed someone, he did nothing, and didn't even get bruised by the blow.

"Hold still for just a moment, please; I'm just getting you out of these chains." Link simply replies and smiles back at Lupo, who then realized who he was. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I didn't know that YOU would be here!" She says immediately after being unchained from the surgical table.

"So…where are we, Link? I know that we fell through the shop, but is there a chance we're… you know, somewhere else?" Geno asks the mighty Hero of Time.

"Don't worry; you're still under the 'abandoned' shop. It was just a straight drop to this dump. Bowser set this trap up just in case Mario would be looking for something. He didn't expect YOU guys to be here." Link replies to them. "I got here only by the help of this mask, as well." Link pulls out a mask from one of his pockets, and shows it to Geno and Lupo. It appeared to be a mask that looked just like Dark Link.

"This is the mask that I had obtained from Dark Link after I defeated him. He left this when he fled. Somehow, it allows you to transform into almost anything. That includes people and animals, along with a handful of monsters and Pokémon. It also copies their voices, if you can channel enough magic into doing so. Right now, I can't do much with it because I'm not the most efficient at channeling energy; I can't access its full power." Link says. Next, he puts on the mask, and transforms into the shape of Dark Link himself. Dark Link basically looks like Link, but completely black, like a shadow, and has red eyeballs rather than light blue eyes.

Geno and Lupo were amazed at what they saw, and their eyes opened wide when they saw the transformation. They desperately wanted a mask just like that, but they knew that they couldn't. "This little thing is what allows me to burn all of Bowser's war plans and airships." He lowers his voice down a little bit. "See, the thing is… I'm acting as a double agent for Princess Zelda right now, under the name of Dark Link. She wanted me to keep an eye on Ganondorf and Bowser, just in case if there is conflict, or something else worth noticing."

"Right now, you guys have to escape. I can create a diversion by pretending to fight you and you escape as soon the armored Koopa Troopas get here. There are stairs right behind you, so go there once we're done." Lupo and Geno both shake their heads in acknowledgement and start to spar with Link. Even though they're not really fighting, they try their hardest to make it look realistic.

Punches, kicks, bombs, and arrows are flying everywhere in the dark room, and this causes a racket nearby. The armored Koopas can now hear everything that's going on, and they march their way to the room. Next, Lupo grabs Geno and tucks him in her arm, giving Geno the signal that she's going to run for it. Lupo runs as fast as she can possibly run, and escapes up the flight of stairs.

Both heroes look behind, and notice that the Koopas didn't follow them up. They were finally safe from harm, and with their Koopa Shell grease, as well. Luckily, Lupo had it in her pocket, and nobody seemed to bother taking all of her stuff, either.

"Wow, these bozos didn't even take anything from us." Lupo states, as she searches herself for anything missing. Geno also checks himself for anything lost, yet he had all of his belongings. The two now appear to be at the shop again, and they can see the opened trapdoor beneath them.

"…How did we NOT notice it? Ugh, I feel so stupid right now," Geno mutters. He was now able to identify the pistons on the trapdoor that make it release when under pressure. He was frustrated with the fact that he didn't see them.

"We should start getting back to Vivian and Mario. They probably have my titanium about now." Lupo brightly asserts. "Hurry, let's go." She then breaks into a run and dashes out of the store, and Geno follows right behind her. 'Darn it, Link! Why are you doing something as dangerous as spying on Bowser AND Ganondorf? You're crazy, and I only met you for what, five minutes!?' Geno thinks to himself, clearly showing concern for the Hero of Time. He's aching for answers, but he cannot even begin to think of why.

Lupo, on the other hand, did not have second thoughts about it. "Wow, that Link guy is so awesome! He didn't even flinch when I accidentally attacked him! He must be really strong! He's also REALLY cute, too! I wonder if he's always like that…" Lupo was clearly love-struck by the young hero, and she looked up to him, as well. She also wanted to meet Link again in the near future.

However, they must meet up with Mario and Vivian. The Crystal Suns were the top priority, and they were dead on about finding them.

In Delfino Plaza, Mario and Vivian were sitting on a tree, waiting for Lupo and Geno to come back from the store (No, they were not kissing, shame on you if you thought that). They were anxious, and they were starting to lose patience and time, for the temperature was at a devastating 200 Degrees Fahrenheit.

"This is starting to drag on for quite a while, isn't it?" Vivian asks Mario, as she scrolls through her Tattle Log, and reading it upside down from a leaf. She keeps wondering why they must enter Corona Mountain, but all they know is that they MUST go there, if it means saving this island from the massive heat wave. "Yeah, it is taking a while, but Mama Mia told me to always be patient, even in the darkest of times. But I do wish I paid a little more attention to her advice when I was still eating spaghetti in a booster seat." Mario replies.

"Hey, there they are!" Mario points out Lupo and Geno, who were running towards the plaza. Mario could also see that Lupo held the Koopa Shell Grease. "Oh, thank goodness! I thought they couldn't find it!" Vivian cries aloud. When she says so, she waves towards them to try and grab their attention.

"Look, they're over there on that palm tree. Let's go!" Geno catches Vivian waving to them at the edge of his vision. He and Lupo leap into the air, and surprisingly succeed in jumping onto the tree. After a while, Lupo and Geno stop to catch their breaths. They've been running for quite a while.

"You're back, guys! You took quite a while, too. Did something happen?" Mario questions the two, seeing that they were pretty dirty and look worn. "…Yeah… A LOT happened." Geno replies.

He tells Mario and Vivian about how they fell into the trapdoor, and how Link was there to help. He helped bail them out, and they escaped without a single trace. At first, Mario didn't know whether to believe them, because Link doesn't go on missions such as reconnaissance. "This is a first… Link, spying on Bowser and Ganondorf… orders from Princess Zelda herself…? Interesting; he used to refuse any kind of reconnaissance. It must be because of the war plans Bowser's been producing." He ponders, and mutters to himself. "But why would he pretend to be Dark Link?"

Mario wants to hold his thought for later, so he stops himself short. He turns to Lupo, and hands her a giant mound of titanium. "Is this enough, Lupo?" He asks politely, trying to grab Lupo's attention.

"Just what I NEEDED! Thank you, Mario!" She cries. Her evil grin pops up once more, as she gets her mitts on the Titanium and the Koopa Shell Grease. Next, she walks back to the same house that she changed in, and before she walks in, she says, "This'll take me five minutes to build, Geno. Once it's done, you can attach it to your body."

"Alright, Lupo! You rock!" Geno holds up a peace sign as he winks towards Lupo. She winks back, and enters the house. The door slams shut, and the process begins, but the other three heroes don't see what is happening. All they could hear was lots of welding, hammering, and clanking of metal.

"This is gonna be the LONGEST five minutes of my life, isn't it…?" Geno says with a frown.

"Hey, it won't be that long in reality, silly! It'll be just fine!" Vivian replies, pinching his wooden cheeks and forcing him to look up at her by picking up his face. "All we need to do is wait just a little more, and we can stop this place from becoming a boiling piece of rock."

FIVE MINUTES LATER…

"How come we never see your godmother work?" Vivian asks in curiosity, noticing how she always works in some isolated area. "I dunno. Maybe she doesn't want anybody to find out her secret." Mario replies. He too has some interest in what Lupo does.

"Done!" Lupo shouts aloud. Next, the heroes spot her running out of the house she was working in. When she stops, she tells Geno to go right next to her, so she could install the armor. She does so quickly, and Geno didn't even notice until she brought it up.

"Now then, Geno. This barrier also acts as a secondary defense. Even if it's not blazing hot, you could use this fire-resistant armor to even fend off regular attacks. Pretty neat, huh?" She says as she bolts the armor onto Geno's body. All parts of his puppet body have been covered with a piece of titanium armor. Surprisingly, it was lightweight. Geno didn't feel slowed down at all by the armor.

"Nice," he said to Lupo. "This stuff will sure come in handy when we get to Corona Mountain."

"Yo, Mario! Try and light me up with a fireball or something!" Geno turns around and tells Mario. "What? Why would I want to do that? What if I end up hurting you or something?" Mario replies, feeling concerned that he may end up hurting Geno by using his fire moves. He knows that he can do some serious damage to someone, which is why he feels reluctant in the first place.

"Well then… here goes nothing." Mario gives up and goes ahead to create a giant fireball. He takes a deep breath, and it magically forms. He concentrates in order to boost its power significantly.

He then releases without warning. "Whoa!" Geno jumps back, unaware that he still had the armor on. Once the fireball hits him, he is sent to the ground, as if he had been tackled by a Charging Chuck.

However, he had received minimal damage from the fireball Mario had created.

"W-whoa… this thing is… intense! I didn't even get injured! You rock, Lupo! This is the best thing EVER!" Geno proceeds to give Lupo a high-five. He walks up to Lupo and holds his hand out. "Cool beans, Lightweight." Lupo says. She slaps her hand right into Geno's hand, and the two wink at each other.

"Great! Now we can go to Corona Mountain! Are we all set, guys?" Vivian states to the entire team. She nods her head, showing that she is ready for the journey to Corona Mountain. Mario turns around to face the lovely shadow. He nods and says, "I'm ready!" Lupo looks up and shouts, "Ready for anything!" Geno also looks up to Vivian and asserts, "Never been more ready in my life!"

"Then let's go!" The four heroes shout aloud in excitement and begin to travel towards the deadly Corona Mountain. Mario said that there was an entrance to the volcano at the base of it. When they heard of this, they shook him furiously. He pointed at the Shine Gate and said that the entrance was behind it. With this, they release him and he fell on the ground, face-first. He gets up from the ground, dusts his overalls, and heads towards Corona Mountain!

In case you didn't notice, the volcano was really, REALLY hot. Everyone was sweating furiously, and couldn't stand the heat as well as they could outside the volcano. "Mama Mia… And I thought it was unbearable before… This is absurd!" Mario lets out. He's worried, though. The heat inside the volcano was slowly draining his energy. The rest of his friends were also being drained of energy.

"Ugh, this heat is just terrible… If we can't get the Crystal Sun, we're going to end up dying here." Lupo says as she struggles to keep cool. Vivian seems to be suffering the most from the heat, as she turned herself into a shadow. She refuses to resurface. "This heat, for goodness sake! I really didn't think this through. Stupid me…" Her inferiority complex starts to kick in, but Mario states, "It's okay, Vivian… it's okay. We'll make it through just fine. Don't worry."

Geno, however, is just fine, with the assistance of his armor. Otherwise, he would've been dead. "Guys… I know that the heat is BLAZING, but you guys need to pull through, just this once! Once we get the Crystal Sun, we'll be fine!" He says, encouraging the other three to stand up. As much as he tried, however, Vivian couldn't get up. "My body is not ready for this kind of heat… I'm sorry, but I can't resurface." She says in reply. "I can follow you in this form, though."

Mario takes a short look around the volcano. It was almost the same, except that more rocks were forming, and all of Bowser's machines were removed, thanks to him. The rocks were red-hot, and the lava made large bubbles that exploded when they were too large. The platforms themselves were stable, but looked like they would succumb to the heat and pressure at any moment.

To his surprise, a glimmer catches his eye. "What?" He asks silently to himself. He looks in the direction of where the glimmer came from. It came from the large platform in the heart of the volcano itself. There was a large platform with some spikes around it. It was barren, and nothing much was there, except for one thing.

There was a Blue Crystal Sun there, just like the one depicted in the Magical Map! The others haven't seen it yet, but Mario stands up and shouts aloud, "Everyone! It's the Crystal Sun!" He points towards the large platform in the middle of the volcano. As he says this, everyone immediately turns their heads. "WHAT!? WHERE IS IT!?" Lupo cries, desperately searching for it. She then looks at where Mario points his finger, and she sees it herself.

"Yes, IT'S THERE! C'mon, let's get it quickly, before we burn up in here!" Vivian suddenly bursts with energy, and along with everyone else, she dashes for the sun, disregarding all of the dangerous lava that was in her way. All four of them were leaping across dangerous lava flows that could have ended their lives within seconds upon touching it.

When they stopped, they were in the center platform. They saw the Crystal Sun's ten sharp points, clearly indicating that it was such. They were all amazed by its beauty, as a gemstone such as this was magnificent to look at, even from afar.

"Wow… it's so pretty… and there are nine more of these beauties." Lupo says in monotone, clearly indicating her amazement of the item. Geno also admired how it looked. "This thing is for real, Mario. We should snag it now, while we have the chance!" He shouts at Mario to get his attention.

"Yes. We should! Alright guys, let's-a go!" He shouts aloud in response. Mario jumps up to grab the Crystal Sun.

It wasn't time to celebrate just yet.

A large rumbling occurred as soon as he gets ahold of the Crystal Sun. Mario groans when this happens. "Of course it's a trap, OF ALL THINGS." He says aloud, trying to speak over the loud rumbling. "Oh no, not this! I thought this stuff only happened in MOVIES!" Lupo shouts out of impulse. "…Oh boy." Vivian and Geno say together in response.

In a matter of seconds, the rumbling stops. "Whew, that was a close call. I thought we were done for…" Lupo says when the rumbling stops. 'That didn't seem like an eruption… this volcano is inactive. What's lurking around here…?' Mario thinks to himself. Mario is skeptical about this earthquake, as it didn't appear to be natural.

"Guys… we're not alone." Mario mutters.

All of a sudden, an enormous fireball emerges from the lava! It was as big as the Pianta Statue in the Plaza, and much, MUCH more lethal. It spewed fire around itself. It looked dangerous to even stand near.

"That…Is a LARGE Lava Bubble! Absolutely do NOT touch that thing! It could deep-fry you in an instant!" Vivian shouts aloud, warning all of the heroes. Lava Bubbles take on the appearance of fireballs, but do much more than burn people. They can spit their own fireballs; even shoot flames out of their mouths like a flamethrower.

Even worse is, the Lava Bubble also speaks. "You four!" It shouts in a mighty, deep voice. "What do you think YOU are doing with my Crystal SUN!? I stole it myself from the Sky Sanctum! Nobody else can have it!"

'Sky Sanctum? Does he mean that place where the new Thousand-Year Door is?' Mario thinks to himself. He seems to have a clue about what the Lava Bubble was talking about. Mario walks forward to talk to the Lava Bubble.

"Yes, we are here to return the Crystal Sun to its rightful place. Who might you be?" Mario responds to the Lava Bubble. The Lava Bubble turns around to show its face. It had eyes and a mouth the color of tangerines. They looked somewhat empty, as it had no pupils. 'He seems pretty menacing. Better watch out for whatever he might do,' Geno thinks to himself, knowing that he hasn't seen a Lava Bubble before.

"I am Fuego, the ever-burning flame! Anger is the first of ten, and I REPRESENT IT PROUDLY! Hand the Crystal Sun over, or I WILL destroy you all!" It roared again, in an even louder voice.

Vivian opened her eyes. "He's the first of ten!? He must be one of the 'Ten Deaths' in the inscription on those tablets, Geno!" She says aloud. Geno knows exactly what she is talking about. "Yes, that's right! This guy must be a real pain in the behind to deal with, if he can steal Crystal Suns from a now-extinct civilization!" He replies. When he does so, he prepares for battle. When this happens, the other three also prepare battle positions.

"Get ready, because I am NOT making ANY corny fire jokes for you nimrods! LET'S GO!" Fuego says. He starts off by trying to ram himself into all four of the heroes. "DUCK, NOW!" Lupo shouts immediately before he starts to charge. All four heroes duck for cover, and Fuego completely misses them all.

"Lame," Geno lets out.

"Don't think you've won yet!" Fuego yells aloud. "But… we just started fighting," Vivian muttered, remarking the stupidity in that comment. Fuego then tries to ram a second time. Everyone ducked but Mario, who jumped high in the air instead.

"Eat some hammer, you bum!" He pulls out his mighty Ultra Hammer, and swings it to the ground with incredible force. This forces Fuego to stumble back a little bit due to the sheer force of the strike (although Lava Bubbles float; they have no legs). "ACK! YOU DARE TRY TO SMOTHER ME WITH THAT PUNY HAMMER!? NOW I'M REALLY MAD!" Fuego rumbles the ground with his voice.

All of a sudden, Fuego releases tons of energy, and flames pour out of his body. This causes Mario to take damage and light on fire! "Hothothothot HOT! MAMA MIA!" The fire was incredibly hot, and Mario suffered a direct hit from it. 'This is incredible power! If I take more hits, I'm deep-fried!' he thinks to himself.

Lupo saw Mario get attack, and steps in. "Hey, that's my godson you're touching! Get away from him!" She goes into a rage and pulls out Hamdraxel 1.3. She converts to Shovel Form, knowing that it is good against flames. She takes a swing at Fuego's face, and he stumbles back some more. "Girl, I am sending YOU to the UNDERWHERE!"

He sends an enormous fireball right towards Lupo. It was going so fast that she had no time to react. All she could do was brace herself for the incoming attack. When she is hit, she is sent back and onto the ground, and her arms are scorched. Most people would scream in agony if they were hit with that kind of fire, but she simply says, "If I'm dying today, I'll be in the Overthere!" She gets up immediately after and shouts, "Vivian, can you use the Tattle Log? This guy isn't going down anytime soon!"

"Got it, Lupo! Now, let me see…" Vivian pulls out her Tattle Log and starts skimming it, looking for any information about Lava Bubbles. 'Here!' She ponders. She found the information she was looking for. "Lava Bubbles are susceptible to explosions and freezing! They may be very enduring, but not very much when it comes to those things!"

Geno takes note of this, and tries to figure out a way to fight Fuego. 'Hmm… If I can get Fuego to stay still, I can take 'em down with Geno Blast! That'll work perfectly!" He lights up as an idea pops into his head. "Mario, Lupo! Hammer him on the head; make sure he doesn't go anywhere! Vivian, freeze him up once they do that! I'll make sure that he stays down." He shouts aloud to his friends.

"Got it!" They all said together, and proceed with Geno's strategy. Together, Mario and Lupo smash Fuego to the ground with their weapons with one of Mario and Luigi's old technique, the Wrecking Crew! "IT'S TIME TO WRECK SOME THINGS UP!" They shout in synchronization. Fuego stumbles back, but now he is dizzy from suffering two hits on the head. Once they do that, Vivian quickly dashes towards Fuego, and she says, "FREEZE, VILLAIN!" When she does so, Fuego starts to freeze from the top of his head and downward.

"No! I hate, hate, HATE ice! The stuff sucks more than a Poltergust 3000!" He starts to feel the freezing, and he slowly comes to a stop. Geno smirks and says, "Perfect. Let's finish this."

Geno halts himself momentarily to focus his energy into firing Geno Blast, one of his most powerful moves. 'Come on, come on… Just a few more seconds…' he thinks, only needing a short amount of time before completing the spell.

However, Fuego was melting out of the ice, and rapidly. "Oh, no you DON'T!" He said, trying to free himself from the ice by increasing his own temperature. Time was running short, and Geno didn't have much time, either. "Come on, Geno! You can do it!" Lupo shouts aloud. "Yeah, Geno! Go and get 'em!" Vivian shouts after Lupo. 'Geno, we're counting on you.' Mario thinks to himself, confident that Geno can make it.

"GENO… BLAST!"

Geno lets out a huge amount of energy at once! Beams of energy rain down on Fuego, directly hitting him! "NO! I CAN'T LOSE NOW! NOT WHILE THAT CRYSTAL SUN IS MINE!" Fuego was hit by more beams of energy, and this caused him to burn out…

Fuego, the first death representing anger, vanished from the heroes' sights. He was gone, and they may have never seen him again.

Geno was tired from releasing so much energy. He sits down to catch his breath. "Wow… that was crazy… I never used that much magic in such a short amount of time… I better be careful next time…" Geno says, even though he feels out of breath.

"Great job there, lightweight. I knew you could do it." She kneeled down in front of Geno to give him a big high-five, but she ended up slapping him in the face by accident (he felt it real bad, too). The other two heroes help him up, and he was back on his feet.

"Great job, Geno," Mario begins to say. "We may have doomed the island, had it not been for you. Keep up the good work." Geno looks up at Mario to reply. "Thanks, dude. Had I not gotten stronger when traveling with you, we might not be alive right now… thanks for that." He says, giving Mario a friendly smile in return.

"Hey, would you look at that…" Lupo suddenly has her thermometer out, and she studies it carefully. She walks outside the cave and checks it again. "The temperature went down to 99 Degrees, in only a matter of seconds. This must have been Fuego's doing…" she says.

"Well, isn't that great? We got a Crystal Sun AND we saved Delfino Island!" Vivian claps her hands together in joy, and snatches the Crystal Sun from Mario's hands. "Hey… Vivian!" Mario says in confusion.

"Hmm… I wonder if any this has magical power like the Crystal Stars… Mario, give me a hand here, darling; you're the only one who knows how to work these things." Vivian states, who observes the Crystal Sun carefully.

Mario, slightly troubled by what may unfold, walks up to Vivian and takes the Crystal Sun. 'Alright, Crystal Sun… show me what you've got…' Mario focuses his magic into the Crystal Sun, and holds it high! When he does so, it pulsates a dark blue, and a rumbling occurs. "Guys, get behind me!" Mario shouts out to his friends to ensure they do not get hit by the attack.

Then, water starts to form right in front of Mario! The hero moves back a little bit, and sees what is truly happening. Waves of water were rushing right past him, tearing down anything in front of them, like a tsunami. All of the heroes were amazed at what they saw. "Wow! That was intense!" Geno shouts aloud. "Mario! What in the world ARE these things!? They have powers that are unbelievable!"

"That… is cool." Lupo says with a cool attitude. "Now then, what should this power be called?"

Mario looks up at the Crystal Sun, and tries to come up with a name. "Hmm… How about we call it… Flash Flood? It sounds like an appropriate name for it." He says after a few seconds of analysis. "Well then, Crystal Sun… let's get you back to the Sky Sanctum."

The four heroes exit the cave, and go towards the Warp Pipe in the Plaza. They all enter at once, returning to Rogueport… but something ELSE was going on, back at Delfino Island.

Bowser was up to no good again. He saw Mario and friends from the top of the Shine Gate, and the heroes didn't even see him! He seemed to notice the Crystal Sun that Mario obtained, as well.

"Well then, it looks like Mario's gotten himself some neat toys." He says aloud. "Hehehe… Dark Link, why don't you go and give that guy a whooping, then take his Crystal Sun away from him! Then, I'll have SO MUCH POWER! BWAHAHA!"

"Yes, your majesty. I will go swiftly." Says Dark Link, or who appeared to be Dark Link. It actually happened to be Link, with his trusty disguise. 'Oh boy, this guy just WANTS me to run laps. At this rate, I'm not gonna get anywhere!' Link thinks to himself.

"Would you like me to do anything else while I am on my way, your majesty? I have so much time, yet so little to spend it on. My lord Ganondorf doesn't seem to be awaiting my appearance, for the time being." Link says to Bowser. Bowser merely laughs and says, "Yeah. Get me some cookies. I'd LOVE me some of Zess T's cookies right now! How about you do that first?"

"…Of course, your majesty. I will get you your snack right away." Link says to the hungry king. 'Wow, this guy is REALLY dense. He wants me to get him a snack before I go after Mario? What a waste of time. I just hope I can get back to Malon, soon. I have do wash all of her clothes and dishes before she comes back home! Oh, why didn't I do that earlier?' He thinks to himself. After being commanded, he leaves by using his Ocarina of Time. He warps out of the Island, disappearing from Bowser's sight.

"Well then, Mario. Your time is short…" Bowser says to himself slowly. He watches the sun set from the Island, and he also checks the clock on his Koopa Clown Car. He presses a button on his desk, but for an unknown reason. He laughs deeply, and looks up towards the stars.

"…The Star Festival is about to begin again… forcibly."

CHAPTER FIVE END.


	7. 6: A Stellar Adventure

**Chapter Six: A Stellar Adventure**

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 22

"Mom, look at all of the stars today! They shine so brightly today!" A star child exclaims to her mother, who was sailing through the very space itself. She seemed to be busy, but had time to talk to her dear child. "Yes, sweetheart, they seem to be shining brilliantly on this fine day. Maybe they'll have some Star Bits just for us! Go tell Polari to get some so that we can eat. I'm getting quite hungry myself!" The mother replies. She stops her spaceship for a while, in order for her other star child Polari to get Star Bits, pieces of a star that serve as food for the star children and their mother.

The mother was preparing meals for all of her one hundred star children, so she went to the kitchen and waited for her oldest son Polari to come with the Star Bits. Their favorite food was Star Cake, so she gathered all of the materials that she needed by creating them; using magic, of course. When Polari came back, she prepared the cake, and everyone had a wonderful dessert and/or dinner.

But their good time was cut off short by a terrible event.

The spaceship was starting up again, and it was moving on its own. "What? What's going on right now!? Nobody touched the controls, yet the ship is moving on its own!" The mother checks the dashboard for the destination of her spaceship. It seemed to be heading towards a familiar place; a planet that the mother has been to before.

"…We're going to the Mushroom Kingdom… someone must be taking us here by force, and remotely. I must find out who the perpetrator is, and see to it that he gets what he deserves…" The mother mutters to herself. The star children were all confused and didn't know what to do. The mother calmed them down and told them not to worry.

"My children… let your mother handle this situation. In the meantime, please stay in a dome until I say otherwise." She commands all her children, and her soothing voice made all of them calm down. They each went into a dome, and hid for quite a while.

"Bowser… what do you want from us now…? Haven't you frightened my children enough?"

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 24

Two days have passed since the trip to Delfino Island. Mario, Vivian, Geno and Lupo were all inside of the Sky Sanctum, after a day of relaxing in Lupo's house. They felt like they needed the rest. "Alright then, Mario; place the Crystal Sun on the Pedestal right next to the Thousand-Year Door." Vivian states while looking at a picture of the old Thousand-Year Door. Mario was confused, though. There was no place for the Crystal Sun to rest.

"Vivian, I can't place it anywhere! We might have to search elsewhere…" The mustached hero replies. He was right, indeed. Normally, the Magical Map would lead him to the place where he should put these magical items, but it wasn't marked. All they know is that they must place it somewhere in the Sky Sanctum.

Geno seemed to have an idea, though. "Hey, don't you guys remember that there were OTHER doors in this place? The east! We might have to place the Crystal Sun over there." He speaks up and points towards the east. "Good eye, lightweight. Maybe that's where we need to go." Lupo says, also looking towards the east. "If you say so…" Vivian says, appearing disappointed.

The heroes all stop by the door that Geno had mentioned. Although not as big as the Thousand-Year Door, it was quite impressive in size. If Mario ate a Mega Mushroom, he would still fit inside the door. "Wow, this door IS pretty big. Let's see where the Crystal Sun goes…" Mario closely inspects the door, looking for anything that might be suitable for a Crystal Sun to fit inside.

At first, Mario did not find it, but Lupo had found out that he just needed to be within range of the door for it to open. The Crystal Sun glowed when this happens, and the door opens. "Well, that was a lot easier than I thought," she says in response to her discovery.

When the door opens, they see another pedestal. It's in the shape of a Crystal Sun, as well. Mario assumes that this was the place to put the Crystal Sun. "Strange…" he pondered. "This place was built quite differently from Ancient Rogueport… that must be why we're so confused in the first place." Geno looks around for anything else that might catch his eye. "Well, it looks like the coast is clear; we're only accompanied by more bones." He says when he finishes scouting the area.

Mario and friends walk up to the pedestal. Written on it says, "Sapphire Blue Sun" in English, and a whole sort of different languages, from what Geno could tell. Mario steps up and carefully places the Crystal Sun into it, and it glows once again. "So much glowing… is this how ancient tech was like? Interesting, indeed," Lupo snickers as she sees the Crystal Sun glow once again.

When the Crystal Sun starts to pulsate, though, the Magical Map starts to pulsate in the same beat. "Look! The Magical Map is pulsating!" Vivian notices this and takes the Magical Map out of her Tattle Log. She gives it immediately to Mario, and he holds it skyward, hoping that something will happen. A large beam of light immediately hits the Magical Map, and the next Crystal Sun's location is discovered!

At least, they thought so.

Mario takes a look at the map. He is not happy by what he sees. "What in the world is this!? The next Crystal Sun isn't here! It's not shown anywhere on this map!" Mario is startled by what he sees, which happened to be nothing. The Crystal Sun did not appear to display itself upon the Magical Map, which is a first.

"This never happened with the Crystal Stars… have we done something?" Vivian questions this occurrence at once, believing it to be something that they may have done, yet the map is in perfect condition. "Darn… looks like we have to find this one by ourselves… but where to start…?" Geno starts pondering about as well.

Then, he notices the Magical Map start to do something else. "Look, the Magical Map is changing again." He says. Everyone looks at the Magical Map to see that new words have appeared. "It's in an ancient language used by people in the Star Road. I think I can read this." Geno grabs the map and reads the words off of it.

"Do not fret; The Crystal Sun is safe, and somewhere in this universe, and around your galaxy. Stay in Rogueport; a wonderful, yet terrible phenomenon will occur soon enough. The one that you find will surely help you along the way. Stay good; The Magical Map."

Everyone had their eyes wide open. "This is surprising. The Magical Map seems to have a mind of its own, along with it being extremely helpful. I wonder what else it c-"

Geno's head is bonked by something, but it wasn't Vivian's soothing and bone-breaking right hand. Something fell on his head, yet it didn't do much harm to him. "Vivian! I didn't do anything!" He yells at Vivian, who was standing five feet away from him. "Hey, I didn't do anything, either. Are you imagining things?" She replies, both hands on her hips, about to scold Geno.

"Guys, calm down for a second… Look at that, instead." Mario interrupts.

What he sees is a small purple object, in the shape of a piece of candy, except it was the size of a basketball. It was a Star Bit, and Mario has seen quite a few of these before. They come in all of the colors of the rainbow, so purple seemed plausible. This is also what hit Geno in his wooden head.

"Would you look at that, it's a Star Bit! I wonder when this thing got here." Lupo says, trying to grab it and eat it, but Mario stopped her from doing so. "Something's already wrong," Mario explains to his friends. "These things only appear once every one hundred years. That time is the Star Festival, where millions of these things pour out from the sky and right onto the Mushroom Kingdom. We celebrate this, and the duration is about three months. But this is not good…"

"We already had the Star Festival two years ago! On Year Star Bronze!"

Everyone gasped in surprise at this. "What? Then why is this thing here!? Shouldn't it be back in the sky or something!?" Geno was becoming too excited by this phenomenon. He wanted to know, but he lacked the information. Vivian was also dumbfounded. "Then that means… I don't even know what that means! The Star Festival happening on the SAME CENTURY? I don't even know where to begin with this…"

"We better start looking into this, Mario. Vivian and lightweight over here haven't a clue on what to do." Lupo speaks up to Mario. She looks towards the pipe that they entered the Sky Sanctum in. "Let's go to my house to discuss this further. I think I know what to do."

When the heroes have left the Sky Sanctum, they found themselves in Rogueport Square again, but this time, there were Star Bits littered around the whole area! People from everywhere were collecting them, even Zess T! Everything seemed to go crazy once people were fighting for the shiniest Star Bits.

"I guess we were right… Something IS going on." Mario assumes. He wonders why Star Bits are falling out of the sky today, and not a hundred years later. Vivian and Geno are absorbed by the beauty of the Star Bits, seeing the wide array of colors that they come in. "Wow," Vivian says blankly. "These things are amazingly shiny."

At Lupo's house, the heroes gathered up at the kitchen to discuss the matter at hand. "Alright then," Lupo starts. "What do you know so far about falling Star Bits, Mario?"

"There is only one way that Star Bits can fall from the sky, and that is if the Cosmic Observatory is around this galaxy, and it's probably not; I would have been notified on my Mailbox SP. So in this case, someone could be playing a trick on-"

Geno cuts off Mario for a moment. "Everyone, be quiet…" Silence fills the house. They all hear some ruckus going on from outside, and not by just a dozen people. It sounded like everyone in Rogueport. "Mama Mia, what's going on out there?" Mario whispers. Nobody was quite sure at all; the only thing that they heard was the screams of townsfolk. "Come on, let's check it out. I dunno what's going on, but I don't like the sound of it." Lupo says, leading the group outside.

When the heroes reached Rogueport Square, they saw something that made Mario open his eyes wide.

"W-what!? What is THAT doing here!?"

Mario saw a giant spaceship, and it looked EXTREMELY familiar. He's been on it before, and he remembers it like the back of his hand. It was floating right next to the Sky Sanctum, and it seems to stay there for a while. Only Mario and Luigi knew what this was…

It was the Cosmic Observatory.

"Holy Hammer Brothers from 5-2! Of all the crazy things that have been happening this week, this HAS to be one of them." Mario states, with his hands in the air. Everyone frowned a little bit, seeing that Mario was getting a bit angry. "Calm down, dude." Geno says, grabbing the mustached hero on his shoulder. "Why would she be here at this time, though? She should be on the other side of the universe." Mario lets out in anger and frustration.

"Mario, who do you mean by 'she'?" Vivian asks. She desperately wanted to know, but Mario wouldn't answer for a while. "You'll find out soon enough, Vivian. She… is one of the most powerful beings in existence." He replies after a while of analyzing the observatory.

"Who could have done this?" Lupo asked herself, not knowing the full gravity of the situation. She knows that everything that happens can't be left unanswered. "I say we go up to that… um, Observatory- whatchamacallit… and hopefully we'll find some clues.

Mario steps up and says, "Oh, we'll find clues, alright… she'll give us those clues. We just gotta hurry and see if she's alright." Mario appears nervous now, as if he was worrying about a person's concern, which seems to be most likely. They get up to the Observatory by jumping onto it from the Sky Sanctum. It was not too far from the sanctum itself; they could easily jump across.

The place was very bright for an observatory. There were lights everywhere; in the floor, on the ceilings, some lights were floating around, and other lights… came from somewhere else. Those lights seemed to catch his eye, and were coming from the dome-shaped objects. They were living creatures, and were in fact the star children themselves. They were peering out from the domes, watching Mario and his friends. Mario recognized these creatures instantly.

"Lumas… they must be scared out of their minds…" He says quietly, nobody hearing him. The Lumas take on the basic shape of a star, but they can be a wide array of colors, such as pink, black, green, yellow, blue, orange and even purple. They all shared the same mother, as well; the mother who governs the entire universe. They can fly, and transform into many things, including planets!

"If the Lumas are here… then she must be here too… her highness must be furious right about now." He says again. His friends are amazed by the sight of the Observatory itself. It was larger than any other observatory in the Mushroom Kingdom. There were at least three floors, and flying around the Observatory was a small house. A young child could live in there. It also appears untouched, but appears to also be from a long time ago…

"Hmm… where is she…? I thought she would be here…" Mario starts grumbling towards himself. He walks to a dashboard where the entire observatory is controlled. He looks around and sees that they've been hacked into by

. He sees many microchips that have Bowser's smug face on them. "Bowser…" He clenches his fist so tightly that he breaks the microchip in his hand.

The other three heroes walk up to the Lumas out of curiosity.

"Hey there, little fellas. What are you doing here? Are you scared? We won't hurt you." Geno says calmly, trying his best not to provoke the Lumas. Fortunately, the Lumas were not afraid of the three, and step outside the grass-like dome. "Have you come here to talk to Mommy?" A green Luma asks the three. Lupo steps up to it and says, "Why, yes we are! Have you seen her?"

The Green Luma appears sad when she says this. "We have seen her, but she's become quite depressed recently. We try to cheer her up, but she asks that we leave her alone. She also told us to wait for a man who wears a red cap and overalls." Vivian immediately looks at Mario. "Do you mean him?" She points in Mario's general direction to get the Luma's attention. A blue Luma steps up and replies, "Yeah, that's him! Go get him; we have an important message for him!" Vivian decides to retrieve Mario from the dashboard, and he was still looking around it.

"Mario, those Lumas want you for a second. Let's go and see what they want." She says to the mustached hero. Mario looks up to her, and he seems to calm down as he does so. "…Okay, Vivian. Let's go." He says to the lovely shadow.

Mario is led to the Lumas that the other three were just talking to. He recognizes them pretty quickly. "Hey, I think I've met you before! Were you little guys looking for me?" Mario asks while pointing towards himself. They all nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we were looking for you! Mommy wanted you to see her in the Garden!" The green Luma replies as he tugs on Mario's hat. He chuckles a little bit and says, "Alright then, I'll go see her right away." Mario urges his friends to join him on the trip to the topmost floor. It was a little bit frightening for the other three, since they've never really warped before.

Mario stops at a pink dome, and everyone is confused. "THIS is the Garden? This is just a dome! Were we lied to?" Lupo asks in disbelief. She doesn't seem to assume much, so the Garden dome did not seem plausible to her. "Yes, this is the Garden. Step inside; you'll be surprised at what you see." Mario simply replies to her. As he says so, everyone steps inside.

Lupo is immediately astounded by what she sees. In fact, all of them were. They saw a lovely garden in front of them, and it went for miles. Lupo didn't believe it at first, but it was no further from the truth than your eyeballs are to your brain (It even smelled nice in there). "Wow, this place is amazing! I wish I could build something like this!" She says in envy. The technology was quite advanced for her, so she couldn't quite make it out.

In the distance, however, Geno spots a woman, sitting down in a field of flowers. "Hey, who's that over there?" He asks. Everyone turns around to look at where Geno is looking. They eventually spot the same woman, as well. Nobody knew but Mario. "There she is. We should go see her right now." He says to his friends. They follow his lead and start walking towards the woman.

When they walked up to her, she did not seem to notice, but in reality, she knew that they were on the Observatory before they arrived into the Garden. "So, it looks like you came." She says, and stands up to greet the four heroes. She had blonde hair, and light blue eyes. She was light-skinned, like Mario. Her hair was short, and a large part was covering her right eye. She was very tall, about six and a half feet. She wore a silver crown atop of her head, which was place with perfection. A black Luma was surrounding her as well. She was beautiful, and she appeared to be a very trustworthy person.

Mario bows down all of a sudden; Vivian and Lupo don't know what's going on. Geno follows immediately after, knowing the identity of the lady that they speak with.

"Hello, My lady Rosalina." They both speak in synch.

The woman picks her head up to look at the two, and smiles brightly. "Why, this is interesting. There are people who still pray for me. I guess I am not completely lost in history, after all." She says to them. "Please, stand up. I would like to see your faces."

Mario and Geno stand up on her command, and look up to Rosalina. She also walks in front of them, and turns her head towards Mario. "Ah, Mario… It's been a long time, hasn't it? Two years have gone by, and I've already missed you. As patient as I am, it seems troubling to part with friends." She speaks with a soothing voice, and Mario is captivated by it. "Yes, it has been a long time, my lady."

Next, Rosalina talks to Geno. "And you… I can sense that you are from the Star Road. Please, state your name and ranking. My name is " !?", and I am a Guardian of the Star Road, respectively. I am honored to stand by you once more, my lady Rosalina." He states with pride and respect. "Good… I feel that you are trustworthy, and have met some friends along your journey. And your nickname on this planet is Geno, am I correct?" She replies to Geno. "Indeed, my lady. The hero Mario wishes to speak with you about an event that is troubling all four of us, including the two bystanders that appear before you and myself." He replies back.

"Did he just call me a bystander? That little punk…" Vivian whispers angrily in Lupo's ear. All she did was chuckle quietly. They couldn't do much but watch what was unfolding. Mario presents the Magical Map to Rosalina, and tells her about the story of the Crystal Suns. "We have already retrieved one Crystal Sun from the death of anger, Fuego. This white Crystal Sun is said to be somewhere around our galaxy. That could be any number of places that the Crystal Sun COULD be." Mario says to Rosalina. She nods in acknowledgement.

"I see… Looking at this Magical Map, and from depicting what your map has written on it, there are four galaxies that are near your own. The first is the Good Egg Galaxy, origin of the Yoshi species. The second is the Throwback Galaxy, a planet specifically made to replicate Thwomp's Fortress in the Mushroom Kingdom. The third is the Shiverburn Galaxy, where ice and fire live in harmony. The last is the Grandmaster Galaxy, a place that truly tests your skills. Take caution of this. As our dear hero Mario knows, these galaxies are very dangerous. Don't get ahead of yourselves, and you will surely be safe."

Mario and his friends listen to Rosalina, and before they head out, she says one more thing to them. "Remember; come back here after visiting each galaxy. I will guide you along the way. Also, I have sensed another hero's presence in your town. He is powerful, and he can rival my own abilities. Do not worry, though; he is a friend of yours." Mario and Lupo seem to have an idea on who this figure is. They look at each other and say, "Link."

Mario looks at Rosalina and bows once more; so does Geno. "Thank you, my lady Rosalina, for your guidance. We will surely make great use of it while we can." Mario says. "We will come back shortly from the Good Egg Galaxy." Geno says. Vivian and Lupo just shake their heads in agreement to the two young men. After this, they all step outside the garden and back out into the Observatory.

On the third floor, Vivian spots something quite troubling to her.

"Everyone, look! It's Bowser!"

Everybody stops short, and runs to Vivian. "Where is he?" Lupo asked. Vivian points all the way down to where the Sky Sanctum is. From there, they could see Bowser walking in. "Everyone, get down and stay quiet!" Geno says to his friends, and everyone does so immediately.

However, there was a Bob-Omb right behind them.

"MAMA MIA!" Mario shouted frantically. The Bob-Omb blew up right in their faces. Although nowhere near deadly, it ended up making them fall off the third floor and onto the first, right in front of that nasty Bowser.

Everyone is toppled all over each other; Mario being at the bottom of the pile. Bowser can't help but laugh at what happened. "HA! Are you guys STUPID or something!? You're all stooges in these eyes!" He roars in laughter. He can't help but continue for a few more seconds. This allows the team to get their act together and form up a team.

"Alright, Bowser! Time to tell us what you want with this place!" Mario commands the awful king. "What do I want? I want this observatory to rule the UNIVERSE, of course! With this baby, nothing's gonna stop me from getting there. It's PERFECT! And, on top of that…" Bowser pulls something from under his shell, which happened to be a helmet and some armor for his stomach. "Just try and take me down now, punks! You can't stop me when I get SERIOUS!" He roars at the top of his lungs and breathes fire into the air.

He is about to charge right into Lupo, as well! "Oh, boy." Lupo braces for impact, as usual, but just after she does so, a figure steps in and stops Bowser dead in his tracks, With ONE hand. It wasn't Mario, Vivian or Geno, either.

It was Link.

At the last second, Link steps up and saves Lupo from becoming Bowser road kill. "Huh!?" Bowser is confused at first, but then notices that Link was the one that just stopped him. "Oh, COME ON! Not YOU of all people I have to deal with!" Bowser yells at Link, but he simply pushes him back. "You're lucky I couldn't find Fi in time to milk Malon's cows for breakfast. Then, you'd be even more sorry." He says quietly. When he says this, Mario noticed that Link didn't have the Master Sword with him.

"HA! You think you're SO TOUGH without your sword, huh? I bet that you cannot even beat a Goomba without that thing! Take this, you green-hatted fool!" Bowser immediately charges into Link, and Link sidesteps out of the way. He also pulls out his shield. "I'm pretty sure I can fight you unarmed. Bring it on, King Koopa." He smirks, trying to aggravate Bowser. "I've had ENOUGH! You were better when you stopped talking! You never said anything so AGGRAVATING before! I'm gonna toast you like my SANDWICHES NOW!"

Bowser breathes fire right at Link, but he jumps out of the way and right next to Bowser. Before anyone knew it, Link kept jabbing the Koopa King with his left hand, and he was attacking at an immense speed and power! The other heroes just watch as he starts making Bowser walk back onto the Sky Sanctum. He became dizzy, and Link was about to deal another blow.

But before he did so, he says, "This is for my beautiful redheaded cousin Malon, you jerk." Link kicks Bowser with a sidekick from his right leg, and he is sent flying forwards into several Magikoopas who were awaiting him. "Ugh… I hate that guy's guts… so much…" Bowser knocked out once he fell to the cold ground.

Link was collective and calm throughout his entire fight. Something that Mario and his friends could never replicate in their lives. They were completely dumbstruck by what they saw. Even Lupo knew that her power couldn't even match up with what she saw.

"…What just happened?" Mario asks, but not towards anybody. Link calmly turns around and points towards Bowser. "THAT just happened," He says. "And you better believe it, too." The four heroes walk up to Link in amazement. "How did you attack so FAST!? I've never seen anything like that before in my life!" Vivian asks the brave hero. "I really just practice my hand movements. I learnt it by using Fi all the time." He replies.

"Um… Fi? Who's that?" Mario asks in confusion. Link has been asked the same question numerous times, but he was more than happy to answer. "Well, Fi is the Master Sword, or you could say she's the spirit of the Master Sword. She appears to be more… animated than most spirits in Hyrule. She's been acting up like this since I saw Lupo and Geno here." He puts his hand out towards the two, and they smile.

Geno, however, is quite troubled by something. 'This… is new. Link's spirit is different from a normal person. In fact… he has a spirit similar to the ones of the Star Road… even scarier is the fact that… It's the same energy as the lady Rosalina! Not only that, he shares connections with OTHER goddesses and deities! Why did I pick this up now, though…?' He thinks to himself with confusion. He looks back at Link, noticing the strange aura that resides in him. 'And THAT needs to be explained, too.' The aura is black, but a strange sort of magic is contained in it. Geno had no idea about what this meant.

Mario shows Link the Magical Map, and what he and his friends have been doing for the past week. "We've been collecting these Crystal Suns. We have one, and we call it Flash Flood. We need to collect NINE MORE of these things to open the Thousand-Year Door in Sky Sanctum. We have no idea what's behind this door; nor does Professor Frankly Goom. Can you help us, even a little?" Mario asks him.

"Hmm… How can I help you…? Malon seems to need me a lot, so I can't quite join your group. So, I'll give you these, instead." Link takes out four different items, and has the four heroes line up. "For you, Vivian, you get this medallion, Bombos. It uses fire magic to inflict, well, fire." He hands the item to Vivian in her hand. "For Geno, you get this Roc's Cape, which allows you to jump higher, and even glide." He gives the cape to Geno. "Cool!" He shouts, and places it over his own cape.

"For you, Lupo, I give you these ancient Mogma Mitts, which allow you to burrow underground and emerge in several places. Take good care of these." Lupo was overjoyed by this. "THANK YOU SO MUCH, MR. LINK! I WON'T FORGET THIS!" She squeals. Link laughs heartily and continues to Mario. "Mario, I found this in Bowser's Castle. It looks like a newer hammer model. I think it's better than your own, so try it out. It's labeled as the Mega Hammer." Mario takes the item and studies it carefully. "Thanks, Link." He says.

"Anytime, you four." Link replies. "Now, I must be on my way. See you guys later!" Link takes out a Deku Nut and disappears from sight once he uses it. Everyone was blinded by the light that it created, so they couldn't see him leave.

"Is he always like that?" Geno asks Mario. "Yeah, he's one of those strange people that you may find… difficult to be angry with. His cousin always needs him, too. I wonder why…" Mario replies.

"Could they be in some awkward relationship? You know… THAT kind of relationship?" Geno asks Mario. Mario immediately shoots him a disgusted look. "…That's gross, Geno. They're cousins, not lovers!" He exclaims. "Well, sorry I asked." Geno replies.

"Anyway, let's see if Rosalina's Launch Star is ready. Hopefully, we could use these items to our advantage, as well." Mario says, and walks back towards the Observatory.

'And hopefully, we can figure out who Link is a little bit more…' Geno thinks to himself before he finally walks with Mario, Vivian and Lupo.

CHAPTER SIX END.


	8. 7: Bad Eggs

**Chapter Seven: Bad Eggs**

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON, DAY 25

It was pretty early in the morning, about 7:00 AM. Mario is asleep in Lupo's guest bed, like the Italian Plumber that he is and always will be. Everyone else on the other hand, was very active on this fine morning.

Everybody was testing out all of the stuff that Link had given them. Lupo's digging away, finding some pretty dandy stuff under her house, like artifacts and money. Geno is literally jumping everywhere with the Roc's Cape, reaching places far into Ancient Rogueport (but also not important). Vivian was using Bombos to increase the power of all of her magic, to a certain extent. She needs to use more of her magic, but the results are phenomenal. She didn't need to use Bombos only for fire, to her surprise.

All of this was occurring as Mario was dozing away in Lupo's soft, comfortable bed. He felt as if he shouldn't leave just yet, as if he needed a lot more time to sleep before waking up.

But he woke up suddenly when he had a nightmare about Link and Malon.

"MAMA MIA! THAT WAS SCARY!" Mario shouts at the top of his lungs. The nightmare that he had was terrifying, and should never be spoken about. It was terrible, something that kids should never have to experience in their lifetimes (but some end up doing so anyway). Mario prays that it wouldn't happen again.

Just as he was praying, he heard a knock on the entrance to his room. "Come in!" He says towards the door, and it opens slowly, but loudly, due to the creakiness of the door. Vivian peeked her head outside the door. From the looks of it, Mario alerted her. "Are you alright, Mario? I heard you from outside! Did something happen?" Vivian asks Mario.

"Oh, nothing, Vivian… bad dreams again. Don't worry." He says to the Shadow. "Aww… it's okay, Mario." Vivian says to Mario, as she would a baby. She then impulsively walks up to him and hugs him tightly, making him blush. 'What have I done to deserve this?' He thinks to himself as he gets crushed between Vivian's feminine arms. She then realizes that what she did was awkward. 'Oops.' She thinks to herself. Vivian blushes and dashes outside of the room. "…That woman… is hilarious." Mario says aloud, but not too loudly.

In her place however, Rosalina steps inside, making Mario jump again. He jumps high enough to hit his head on Lupo's sturdy roof. 'Ow…' he thinks.

"Mario… I must speak with you." Her soothing voice is released, and it makes Mario pay attention instantly. She slowly walks into the room and sits on a chair opposite of Mario. "I have fortunate news for you; as well as unfortunate news. Which would you like to hear first?" She asks the young hero. "The good news, my lady." He says in response. Rosalina slowly takes a deep breath, and begins to speak once again.

"So it shall be addressed. The Launch Star was supposed to be finished by tomorrow, but I was able to finish it today with the help of my children. You may use it now, if you want to." Mario smiles when he heard this. Now he could journey to Good Egg Galaxy!

"And now, for your unfortunate news… This may be tough for you to comprehend, but bear with me…" Rosalina takes another deep breath before she begins again. "…You and your friends have a bounty on your head. You're wanted dead… officially by Princess Toadstool."

Mario gasped when he hears this. "WHAT!? When did this happen!? WHY is this happening!?" He started to panic, but he realizes that he was getting out of hand. "I mean… my lady Rosalina… please explain further so that I may understand."

"So I shall. You have been assumed with murdering a sacred being known as Fuego. But as you know, he was an ancient Death. He was a terrible being to begin with. I am not sure how the princess persuaded her people to believe such a tall tale… I advise that you also leave for the Good Egg Galaxy immediately, for the princess is out to execute you herself, being that she followed you into Rogueport."

'This is bad.' He thinks immediately.

Even worse is, someone was trying to break open the entrance to Lupo's house. Rosalina stood up as this happens. "It is time that I must go. I must not be found in this galaxy, or else suspicion may arise. Go back to the Cosmic Observatory. It is there that the Launch Star awaits you." With a wave of her wand, she uses her powerful magic and disappears from the room, surprising Mario once more.

"EVERYBODY, LET'S MOVE!" Lupo screams aloud, alerting everybody. She too knew about the bounty on their heads. She saw the princess coming through the door, and had to act quickly. At once, everybody meets in the living room. "We gotta bail out, quickly. Let's take the secret exit; every girl's gotta have one!" She says again. She kicks the floor twice, and a trapdoor opens. "Great! Now let's go!" Vivian says.

Fortunately for them, they were able to escape the house through a hidden Warp Zone before the princess could break in. "DIE, MARIO." She screams in a loud voice, but couldn't find the heroes at all. "ESCAPED MY GRASP, HAVEN'T YOU!? YOU WON'T GET AWAY SO EASILY NEXT TIME." Peach roared. She then leaves the house as if nothing was going on. On her way out, though, she broke Lupo's beautiful door, but Lupo didn't find out.

In the Warp Zone was a road connected to the golden Warp Pipe to Sky Sanctum, and they decided to travel there, since they needed to go to the Cosmic Observatory. Once there, they jumped across the Sanctum. At the Observatory, they found the Launch Star, along with a Luma standing right next to it. "Yes, it's there." Geno says. "Now let's git, quickly."

When they reach the Launch Star, Mario explains to them what to do. "Alright, guys. Spinning is the key to using these Launch Stars. Use all of your might to spin and you'll be good." Geno knew how to use a Launch Star, and demonstrated for Vivian and Lupo. In an instant, he was launched into space. A trail of stardust was left behind to show the other heroes where he went.

"Um… I dunno, Mario… this looks kind of scary. I don't even know if he went the right way." Vivian says nervously, but Mario disagrees politely. "Vivian, Rosalina has created this herself. Her Launch Stars never miss their target. I know this because I've been on nearly all of them. Why don't you go ahead and try? I promise you that nothing bad will happen."

"Oh, don't be such a scaredy-cat Vivian; let's go!" Lupo suddenly grabs poor Vivian by her arm and they both enter the Launch Star together. With a spin, they both are launched at incredible speeds!

"Well, that was easier than I thought." Mario says to himself. Finally, he enters the Launch Star himself and is hurled in the same direction as the other three.

The trip was very fast, being that they were going faster than light. That didn't stop Mario from doing some sightseeing before he landed. He saw many stars, and they shined brilliantly throughout the starry sky. "Hardly looks different. Beautiful." He lets out. He looks ahead of him to see where he was being taken.

In the distance, he could see his friends on an egg planet. He was relieved to see that his friends made it safely through the trip. It took a big weight off his heart. Mario then starts to land on the planet. Of course, he's still inexperienced with flying on Launch Stars.

He ends up flying into the planet and landed using his face.

"Oof! …Mama Mia, that hurt more than a Spiny Shell to the face!" He lets out in pain, but he wasn't too badly injured. Geno walks up to him and looks down. "Mario, it's not like Culex attacked you. You'll be fine." He says to him. Mario gets up and shouts back at him in anger. "Hey, YOU'RE the one who KO'ed when we were fighting him!" This hit Geno pretty hard, and he retaliates as well. "If you didn't waste all those Max Mushrooms, you'd be on that cold floor, as well! Don't get too ahead of yourself."

Vivian then whacks them both on the head with her bone-crushing hands and they both feel it. They also stop arguing. "You two are grown men; can't you settle things like gentlemen rather than little kids?" She lashes out with frustration between the two young heroes. "Sorry," they both say to her in a low voice, as if they've been beaten up.

"Let's worry about other things right now, like the Crystal Sun." Lupo smiles, and looks ahead. "We got a LOT of these tiny planets to deal with. Somehow, their gravity is just as influential as our own planet. Odd…" she says. She's studied how gravity works, and it strikes her odd that many tinier planets have the same gravitational influence as their own. Well, except Geno, who has lived in Star Road only for so long.

"So, how are we gonna look for the Crystal Sun here? Are we adventuring through caves and dungeons and stuff?" Geno asks the team. Mario turns around to him, acknowledging his question. "No, Geno. We're going to ask the Yoshis in this small galaxy. THEN we'll explore for ourselves. There's only one dungeon on this galaxy, and it's on the Bad Egg." Mario replies.

"The… The Bad Egg!?" Geno gasps in shock. "You can't be serious! No way! That planet is a wasteland, and VERY dangerous, Mario!" Mario couldn't agree more with Geno. If the Crystal Sun was in the Good Egg Galaxy, it would be on the planet Bad Egg. "So, let's start asking, shall we?" Vivian asks her team. Everyone nods in agreement and they start the search.

A lot of the Yoshis on Good Egg Galaxy had nothing to provide. Most of them said that they did not know what a Crystal Sun even is. A few Yoshis suggested that it was in their temple, even though they didn't know what it was. Mario went to investigate there, and found nothing. It was very small, and he checked every corner of the place, even for secrets and such.

However, there was an old, red Yoshi who thought he saw something in the Bad Egg's dungeon. "I swear, I thought I saw something in the shape of a sun in that darned dungeon in Bad Egg, but I couldn't reach it. It was completely sealed with Iron Bars. Even creepier is that there was a doll next to a wall. I could grab that, but it had no use. I wonder why it was there in the first place…" he says.

"A doll, huh…? Seems like I could use that to my advantage!" Geno shouts. 'He does have a point…' Mario thinks. Geno, as a star child, was granted the ability to possess inanimate objects, such as the body he uses currently for his adventures. "Hey, that's a great idea, Geno!" Mario responds. Vivian and Lupo don't know what they mean, however. "Um… can someone fill us in?" Lupo asks Geno and Mario.

Mario turns around to explain to the two women. "Geno can possess inanimate objects, which is what he's doing right now. This body of his is one of the things that he possesses. He can switch bodies at will, as long as they're not actual people." He says. Lupo and Vivian both get an idea by the looks on their faces. "I think I know what you're talking about." Vivian says, and Lupo simply nods in agreement. "We should go to Bad Egg to see if the Crystal Sun is there." Mario says. "Do you know how we can get there?" Geno says to the old Yoshi.

"Why, yes. There's a Launch Star in the back of my house! It'll lead you straight to Bad Egg, but be careful, you youngsters. There are lots of traps on that planet. Don't get too ahead of yourselves." The old Yoshi replies. He opens up a door next to his TV, and a Launch Star was inside of it.

"Oh, don't mind using it in there. There's no ceiling for you to bust open, anyway. Go on ahead and use the darn thing." He adds before he walks to his couch and continues watching something that appears to be an old show Mario was in. "Great, now let's bolt!" Vivian shouts desperately, and pushes poor Geno out of the way without him even being warned. "Hey…" he says with a frown.

The first to enter was Lupo, who was standing right in the way, and Vivian couldn't even budge her. Like the last time, she spins around and gets sent into a distant planet, and the others follow shortly behind her. The planet that they landed on seemed to be clear, but menacing in a way. The surface was as red as fire, and there really WAS fire on the egg-shaped planet. The heroes were careful not to step in the pools of lava, and they bounced around the tiny world. They see a dungeon at the other side of it, however.

"Looks like we're here." Geno says. "And we may find our Crystal Sun inside." Mario adds. Lupo and Vivian look around to see if anyone else was on this planet. "It looks like it's just us. I don't think we're gonna fall into any traps."

Before they knew it, Geno almost falls into a pretty gruesome trap. Only the Roc's Cape saved him from being sucked into a black hole. They didn't even enter the temple yet. "Thanks for jinxing it, Ms. Shadow Maiden, 'cuz I almost died!" He shouts at Vivian, and then smirks at what he said. Vivian wants to strangle him, but she knows Geno had a point. "I get it, I get it. Sorry." She growls at Geno. Lupo seemed to take the situation a bit more serious, however.

"Everyone, be on your toes. Who knows what kinds of traps lie hidden on this dangerous planet." She lets out. She then takes out her Mogma Mitts, and digs underground. Mario just watches as she disables a great many traps. "Wow, Link sure prepared us for a lot, hasn't he?" he says. "Well, that's always good, isn't it?" Vivian replies. She tries to pat him on the head, but then she realizes something is off.

His hat is gone. "M-Mario… your h-hat…" she trembles while speaking. "Hm?" He wonders. He puts his hand on his head, and then realizes his hat is gone, too. Mario falls silent for a moment, and looks at everyone. Vivian nor Geno had it. "LUPOOOOOOOOOO!" He screams at Lupo. Lupo had just used Mario's hat to set off a trap. Luckily, it wasn't destroyed. He snatches it as soon as he gets his hands on it, and gives Lupo an evil look.

"Well, at least the drawbridge went down." She adds before he puts his hat on. Indeed, the drawbridge to the dungeon in Bad Egg has been made available for the three heroes, thanks to Lupo. Geno smirks. 'Cool.' He thinks to himself. Vivian frowns. 'Why did Lupo do that to my poor Mario? That's not cute at all…' She thinks.

When the four heroes walk in, they notice how immensely COLD the place was compared to outside. "First hot, now freezing? This is gonna be a rough night…" Mario growls and the others simply agree. "Well, let's hope we find that Crystal Sun before we end up… I dunno, icicles?" Lupo shakes a little bit when she speaks. She's cold, but it seems as if it got to her even worse than the other three. She even starts to sneeze. "A-Achoo! Excuse me!" She shouts aloud. Mario begins worrying about her condition. Luckily, he had Medishrooms, special mushrooms that can cure any disease from eating just one piece.

They walk around the dungeon, and there were many dead ends. Fortunately for the group, there weren't any traps. In fact, the further they explore, the less abandoned that it looks. "Creepy… nothing's dusty anymore…" Vivian notes. She draws the dungeon areas in her Tattle Log, so they don't end up going into the same rooms. Mario studies it carefully.

"There's only one place we haven't been to. It's that room over there." Mario points toward the corridor to his left. It's sealed by a stone door. "Hey, Lupo! Can you bust that door open for us?" Geno asks Lupo. She cracks her knuckles and punches the door. It breaks into five pieces when she punches it. "Okay." She replies to Geno. Mario just had his mouth wide open when he saw Lupo break that huge door.

Behind the door was the room that the old Yoshi spoke about. The room contained everything that was in his vision. The stone walls, the iron bars, the doll, and most importantly…

"There she is… The CRYSTAL SUN!" Mario shouts. The Crystal Sun that he saw was right in front of him. It shined even brighter than the last one. It was a bright red, and the points shine just as brightly. "How do these things shine so?" Lupo asks, but not directly towards anybody. She was captivated yet again, but Geno shook her awake. "ALRIGHT! HERE'S MY BIG CHANCE TO SHOW YOU WHAT POSSESSION IS!" He shouts into her ear.

Geno points towards the doll in the corner, just as the old Yoshi told them about. Geno smirks as he cracks his knuckles. He was prepared to show all of them how he possesses inanimate objects. He takes a step towards the doll, and breathes. He raises both of his arms up, and claps his hands together. He takes another breath. He closes his eyes. He breathes yet again. Then… he opens his eyes, and slams his arms to his chest cavity.

"GENO POSSESSION!"

All of a sudden, Geno falls down, and lies motionless, like a doll. Vivian and Lupo are shocked at what they see. "Geno!? Geno!" Vivian shouts aloud. She runs towards the body and starts to investigate. He appeared to be dead, in Lupo's eyes. Vivian was in denial, though. "He's gone? But he wasn't even-"

"Aw, shut up! It's not like you to worry about me, anyway." A voice says.

Vivian looks around to see where the voice was coming from. She saw nothing at first. "Wait… who is that? More importantly… WHERE was that?" She asks the team. Mario just smiles as he stands there. "Hey, look above you." He says to Lupo. She looks skyward and sees something familiar.

A Star.

"WOAH." She squeals. "That's Geno!?" She adds, and directs her question towards Mario. He nods his head and says, "Yep. That's him."

Vivian looks at the star and immediately becomes furious. "GENOOOOOOO! You had me WORRIED! What the heck was THAT for!?" She screams. She hears a laugh from the Geno star. "Aww, were you THAT scared for my wellbeing? I'm flattered." He says to Vivian, who tries to grab him as he flies.

Geno then flies towards the silver doll that was next to the iron bars. "Now watch this!" He says, as he flies into the doll, and disappears. For a few seconds, nothing happens. Then, the silver doll moves its arm. Geno was now moving the silver doll.

"Great job, Geno." Mario states. "I'll just make sure this body doesn't get torn up." He adds as he holds Geno's wooden body. Geno turns his head to look at Mario. "Good. I'll get the Crystal Sun, and we can go home." He states. Carefully adjusting to the doll's body, he waddles towards the Crystal Sun. luckily, he could move fast. He was going to get the Crystal Sun in no time.

But just as he gets next to it, a force snaps him out of the body.

Mario notices and becomes shocked. "What!?" Geno was also flying towards Mario. This gave him the cue to take Geno's wooden body and place it in front of him so Geno can repossess the wooden body. He does so instantly.

"What just happened, Geno!?" Lupo yells. Geno was in such a mess that he doesn't even know what happened. "I just got next to the Crystal Sun, and I felt like someone's hand just… PUSHED me out of possession!" He replies. Whatever he felt, it was not normal. "I think we're in for a LOT of trouble." He adds. He senses something; a spirit filled with energy. The energy was a combination of both pure darkness and pure light. It was… strange, to Geno. He explains this to his friends, and they start to look around.

"If something is here... It could be a Death. Stay on your guard, people." Mario states. He puts his hands up as if he prepares to fight. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from getting pushed by a strange figure. He was sent flying into the wall. He doesn't yell in pain, but he gets pretty bruised on the head. 'That was insane!' he thinks. The others just watch the figure move around. It then comes to a halt. They can see her somewhat clearly now.

The person bowed. It also appeared to be a woman, as well. The person appeared to be a woman, as well; she looks around the same age and height as Lupo. Her hair was a deep orange, and it was so long that it touched the floor. Her dress was black, and had a great amount of… ghosts on it. It is from the same manufacturer as Princess Peach, but went only to her knees. She was barefoot, and her feet contained a gruesome amount of scars, burn marks and cuts on it, as well as her legs. She was very attractive, otherwise.

"I think we're in for it…" Vivian speaks nervously. She tries not to move, but the woman looks up before she can even react. Her face was beautiful. It was captivating; so captivating that Geno and Mario wouldn't look anywhere else. Her face was… blemished, however. She had a burn mark on her face in the shape of a flame. It was faded, but it was visible, nonetheless. However, one trait about her face bothered the four heroes.

Her eyes.

"Hello!" She yells in quite a happy voice. The heroes were too shocked to speak, though. One of her eyes was a glistening red color. The other eye was an abyss of black. Nothing was inside of that eye of hers, except darkness. Geno only understood what this meant, and the breath was nearly taken away from him.

"Guys… She's a… a Death, alright. But this one… she's a…

"…Demon Child." He finishes.

This Death was one of the Demon Children, which are birthed only once every three centuries by a demon. Unlike humans, Demons are capable of physical and magical power far beyond any human's capacities. Geno has seen and defeated some Demons before, but he nearly died each time he fought them.

"And who are you three, trying to take Former Lord Fuego's Crystal Sun?" the demon child spoke again, but her voice was anything but demonic. It was soothing, just like Rosalina's voice. Mario focused on her even more when she mentioned Fuego, the Death of Anger.

"You work for Fuego?" he shouts angrily at the demon child. She nods politely at Mario. "Well, I used to, before someone killed him three days ago. His spirit disappeared from my senses when he was taking another Crystal Sun in Delfino Island… do you know who was responsible for his destruction?" she asks in return.

Lupo stepped up and told her the truth of what happened. "Well, we didn't know that we killed him, but surely we were responsible. He just… disappeared when Geno used Geno Blast." She frowns, and looks back at Geno. "Yeah, I kinda killed him by mistake… but he was going to murder a lot of people, and who knew how many he murdered before that?" he says.

The woman focuses on the four, but especially Geno. "You four… state your names, except for you of course, Mr. Mario. There's not a face in the Mushroom Kingdom that doesn't know who you are." She says sternly. Everybody steps up, including Mario.

"I am Vivian, youngest of the three Shadow Sirens. I was a former servant of the Shadow Queen, but I realized her intentions were wrong and inhumane when Mario decided to help me when I was being abused by my two sisters." Says the beautiful Shadow. She steps back to let someone else talk.

Lupo steps up next. "I'm Lupo Greene, Mario's cousin and godmother. Mario happened to find me and I was glad to have found him. We somehow rejoined when he needed me to help retrieve the Ten Crystal Suns. I was abandoned as a child, but a few Monty Moles helped me live. They toughened this body up, too!" she states cheerfully. She steps back to let Geno talk.

"I am Geno, one of the Guardians of Star Road. I've been guarding it for 40,000 years, since before recorded history. I was told that there was a force that may jeopardize the Star Road, so I was called back to the Mushroom Kingdom to assist in the prevention of this force, if necessary." He says.

Mario looks behind him, towards Geno. 'Ah, so that's why he's here… Why didn't I ask him before?' He thinks to himself. He wonders how he let the thought slip past by. He begins to focus again on the Demon child.

She looks down, to the floor beside her. "So, you four demolished my master… you killed him, without a second thought…" She lets out slowly, causing the heroes to think that she would attack. She looks down at her feet, as if she was about to cry. Except… she didn't cry. She jerked her head towards the heroes, and a brilliant smile came forth.

"THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE FOR ME!"

The heroes were confused. "WHAAAAT!?" They all shout. "Wait, didn't we just kill your master? You aren't even mad about it?" Vivian questions the woman. The woman shakes her head. "Nope. You did something that I could never bring myself to do. I shall explain to you why." She replies. Everybody pays attention once more.

"To start off, I will give you my name and title. I am Adelenn Boskra, the second of Ten. You already know what I mean by this, I'm sure. I am fear itself, the ghost magician of this realm of death. One should know that I am one of the causes of death.

"Since birth, I was a slave to Fuego's will. My mother abandoned me, and left him to take care of me. I could not disobey him, as he was the only one who would 'take care' of me. He hardly did so. I was tortured in many different ways, but Fuego knew that I was capable of taking it, no matter how painful it was. He's never come close to killing me, though. I'm too enduring for that, since I'm a demon child. However, I was broken emotionally. I never cried because it hurt. I cried because I was being abused for no good reason."

Mario looks at Adelenn's legs and her face, and saw the signs of torture from Fuego. He was disgusted. "Fuego did that to you, huh? It must've been terrible to be abused like that." He says in sympathy. She gives a weak smile in return. "Well, you took care of that scumbag for me. That's what counts." Adelenn replies.

"So, you wanted this Crystal Sun, you say?" She suddenly asks. "Normally, I would give it to you, but I have to make you work for it, since you guys didn't just ask me for it. So, we'll play a little 'game'. If you can get to the end of the Grandmaster Galaxy and defeat me, you'll earn your prize. But if you don't… I dunno, I'll come up with it as we play along." She takes out the Crystal Sun from her pocket, and shows it to the team.

"Fine, we'll play." Geno exclaims with pride and readiness. Adelenn giggles a little bit. "Aw, you're so cute, you! I hope you can find me!" and with that, she disappears without leaving a single trace.

"Wow, that one is strange." Lupo says. "Well, we should get to Rosalina now, am I right?" Geno looks up in concern. "Yeah, but don't we need an Exit Pipe?" he says. Fortunately, Mario took one out as soon as he brought it up. "Yes, we do!" Mario happily exclaims. The Exit Pipe allows them to go back to Rogueport, no matter where they place it.

"Hop in. We've got a LOT of explaining to do to Rosalina," Mario says, and everyone does so immediately.

The heroes exit the Exit Pipe, and it just so happens that they end up in the Cosmic Observatory.

Except that they all fall right on top of a pink, squishy surface. When they do, the pink surface unleashed a weird sound. "Pa-PAIYUUUUU!" It shouts aloud, as if it was being crushed. Everyone gets up immediately.

"What the…?" Geno asks. He doesn't know what the strange thing was, but it was definitely a pink creature. "It's so… pink and… round." Vivian mutters in confusion. The pink creature was indeed as round as a ball, and the size of a beach ball. It has hands and feet, but no joints, such as arms and legs. It looked like it can move just as well as they can, though.

"IT'S SOOOOO CUTE! I've NEVER seen anything as ADORABLE as this pink little ball of squishy GOODNESS!" Lupo squeals. She pinches the cheeks of the pink creature, and it laughs as she does so. "PAIYOO!" it shouts. "Aww, you're like a little wittle baby!" Lupo squeals again, which pushes her to pinch the creature's cheeks again.

Mario was more surprised than anybody else, though. "K-Kirby? What are you DOING on the Cosmic Observatory? Even more specific, why aren't you at Pop Star?" he asks the creature, which was given the name of Kirby. "Pai. Paiu, pao Paio." Kirby says. Nobody understood him but Mario. "Just… walking around? What, do you have nothing to do?" he replies.

Kirby speaks again. "Piyuuu… Paio Pi." He says. Mario opens his eyes widely when he says that. "The… The… SUPER SMASH BROTHERS TOURNEY IS STARTING IN THREE DAYS!?" He couldn't believe what Kirby said. "But, it was supposed to be held next month! Why now!?" Mario growls, as he pulls his hat towards his head.

All of his friends look at him funnily. They don't know why he's upset. "Is… something the matter?" Geno asks. Mario shakes his head. "Oh, it's not important for right now. I'll tell you guys later." He says. Kirby just walks away, after shouting out, "BYEEEE!" to the heroes. 'That was interesting.' Mario thinks angrily. "Let's just talk to Rosalina." Vivian states.

A FEW MINUTES LATER…

The heroes told Rosalina EVERYTHING they knew about Adelenn. Rosalina ponders for a moment before answering. "A Demon Child by the name of Adelenn, you say? Strange. I have not seen one for a long time, yet one of them is a Death. This world has some strange properties that I myself have not been aware of when creating it." Rosalina says. "But from what you've told me, it's as if she never wanted to be a Death in the first place. With this information, I assure you that you won't be killed by Adelenn if she does ask you to battle."

Rosalina turns around and takes a pair of shiny, new brown boots from a counter. "Mario, these boots are from your brother, Luigi. He says that these boots are better than your own, but it is hard to tell if he is bluffing. He's your brother, and I don't expect him to lie to you or your friends. Take these." She says with a bright smile. Mario gladly takes the boots and thanks Rosalina.

"Cool, they're my exact size. Luigi never missed a beat when it comes to me." He says happily. He puts them on as soon as he gets them, and they feel nice and new. He definitely feels like his jumps are more powerful. He looks towards the direction of his house. "Thanks, bro." Mario says to himself.

"So, do you think we can take on this Adelenn figure? She seems to be tough." Vivian asks in uncertainty. Geno looks toward Vivian. "Maybe, if we can work together, like we did for Fuego. Let's just not kill her, though." He says with a smile. Lupo puts on an angry smile. "That chump is going DOWN! She'll wish she never messed with Mario and his friends!" She shouts. Everyone puts a fist up and starts cheering.

"But for now, let's take a little break. We need Rosalina to make another Launch Star to Grandmaster Galaxy." Mario states.

Everyone pauses as they hear this.

"…AWW!" They all shouted in anger, and start chasing Mario, as he ran for his life with his shiny, new boots. "MAMA MIA! I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"

CHAPTER SEVEN END.


	9. 8: Adelenn Boskra

CHAPTER EIGHT: Adelenn Boskra

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 26

Unfortunately for the heroes, they couldn't stay at Lupo's house. Princess Peach's bodyguards were ransacking the place, searching for them. This forced them to sleep at the Cosmic Observatory. Rosalina didn't mind, despite the fact that she has never let someone other than the Lumas sleep in her observatory.

Again, the heroes wake up pretty early. The Launch Star wasn't finished, and Rosalina was still working on it, so Mario decides to make breakfast, but he doesn't know what to make. "Hrm… I could make Fire Pancakes! Everyone loves spicy food!" Mario says to himself, and smiles. He walks towards the Kitchen and asks Rosalina if he could cook meals for her and his friends. Rosalina gives him permission to do so.

Mario begins to cook by taking out some Lon Lon Milk, Mystical Eggs, and some pancake mix. He puts the milk and the egg yolks in a large bowl, and begins mixing. In intervals, he puts some diced Fire Flowers into the mix. "Hehe, they'll get a kick out of this," He murmurs to himself. "A flaming one!"

In ten minutes, he finishes the Fire Pancakes. He calls everyone to the Kitchen by saying, "Breakfast is ready!" Everyone bolts for the Kitchen, while Rosalina casually walks there. Everyone sits down and begins eating.

Vivian starts eating first. She loves it as soon as she drops a piece of a pancake into her mouth. "WOW! This is… really good, Mario!" she squeaks, indicating that she felt the spicy flavor. She begins to get the glass of milk, and drinks some before she burns her precious mouth. Lupo also loved the spiciness, but it was a little bit much for her, and she tries to take some milk for herself. Fortunately, they eat almost like royalty.

Geno hasn't even begun to eat his food, due to… previous events. One time, he ate some of Mario's Mushroom Sandwiches and he almost gagged on it. He hasn't been much of a fan of Mario's cooking in the first place. "Mario, you better hope this tastes as good as it looks." Geno mutters. He picks up his fork and begins to eat a Fire Pancake.

That is, until Adelenn stole his entire plate.

Nobody saw or noticed her coming in, not even Rosalina herself. "Mario… is this the Adelenn you spoke of?" She asks. Mario nods. "Yeah, that's her! I have no idea what she's doing here, though." He replies. Adelenn giggles, and eats a Fire Pancake that she stole from Geno. "Mmmm, tasty! So, how ya' guys doing?" she asks the heroes. Everyone gets up and watches her as she continues to eat the pancakes.

"Um… what are you doing here?" Vivian asks with confusion. Adelenn looks at Vivian, but with her demon eye. "Oh, nothing! I'm just hanging around. I got bored, so I came to see what you guys were doing. I didn't mean to barge in on you guys." She replies cheerfully, stuffing herself with another pancake. Geno becomes infuriated pretty quickly. "Hey, those are my pancakes… even though I didn't want them." He mutters to himself, so that nobody could hear him.

Except Adelenn was able to pick it up quite easily. "Once you get the Crystal Sun, though, I'll make more pancakes for you! Teehee!" she giggles once again. "But I'm going off topic. Here's why I REALLY came here." She begins.

"In Grandmaster Galaxy, you will fight four VERY familiar figures. They know everything you do. The game is simple; beat the one that has your abilities. Just don't end up falling off the edge, or you'll have to start over again. I made sure that the black holes send you back to the beginning, so don't worry. But then, you'll have to face me. I hope you guys are strong enough to take me on!" she smiles brilliantly. She eats one more fire pancake before she leaves the rest to Geno. "Oh, and thanks for the breakfast." She adds before walking outside the Kitchen.

Geno was completely dumbstruck. "…WOMEN." He growls. He was especially hungry, and basically was left with nothing to eat. "I'm gonna make sure that we get that Crystal Sun." He says. He then looks toward Rosalina and bows. "My lady Rosalina, is the Launch Star to Grandmaster Galaxy ready for us to use?" he asks the beautiful lady. She nods her head. "Yes it is, Geno. You and your friends may use it whenever you like." Rosalina replies.

"Great. You guys finished eating?" Mario gets up and looks at his friends. They all appear to be finished. They all shout, "YEAH!" Mario is happy to see this. "Well then, Lets-a go!" he shouts, and all four dash towards the Launch Star to Grandmaster Galaxy. 'Ladies first,' says Geno and Mario. Vivian and Lupo laugh, go ahead, and enter the Launch Star. Vivian holds Lupo's hand tightly. They're the first ones to be launched. Geno enters next, and launches himself. Finally, Mario launches himself into Grandmaster Galaxy.

***

They each land perfectly on the galaxy this time; nobody slipped or fell on their faces. Mario for one was relieved that his face was saved from eating dirt. He took a look around, and saw that everyone's safe. "Good, we're all here." Geno says happily after dusting his cape. "This galaxy is just one big rock right now. There's not much to see now, but it's been prophesized that this will be where an important Power Star will be hidden." He looks around and introduces the other three to the galaxy.

"Right now, it's no more than a war zone. Adelenn chose the right place to test our skills. She's a very smart Death, it seems." He adds. Mario hasn't seen the galaxy at all, so it was quite new to him. "So, I guess we start walking?" Vivian asks. As she starts moving, though…

A lightning bolt almost strikes her right in the skull.

"Whoa!" She squeaks. She was certain that she would've been hospitalized with that lightning bolt. She was able to sense its power. "That was close." All of a sudden, the four heroes see the same figure again. Adelenn.

"Waiiiiit, you can't start just yet! The game starts when EVERYONE'S here, you know what I'm saying?" she shouts impatiently. "Now, I know that this may seem to be… a bit much to take in, but here's Grandmaster Galaxy! So, who would like to fight first?" she adds, with a beaming smile.

Everyone stood still. They didn't know what to do with Adelenn's request. To Adelenn, they were taking up so much time. "Would you… like me to, uh… choose for you guys?" she asks politely. Mario just shrugs his arms and nods his head. 'I wonder how this is gonna turn out.' He thinks.

"Okay, then! I will ask Ms. Vivian to brawl first!" Adelenn shouts. With a wave of her finger, she starts chanting something. "Ghost Tactic 5… COPY!" Suddenly, Adelenn points at young Vivian, and a swirl of ghosts were around her. "Eep!" Vivian jumps and gets away from the ghosts. Then, a large number of ghosts come together. A dark essence pulsates from the gathering area, and it manifests itself into…

Vivian.

Vivian was in shock. "How did… those GHOSTS turn into me? What is going on here!?" Vivian was starting to panic, but Mario grabs her shoulder. "It's okay, Vivian. This seems to be part of the game. Just go with the flow," Mario whispers in her ear. Vivian replies by nodding her head, and calms down almost immediately.

They look at Adelenn again, who appears to be on a higher platform. "So, like I said, the game is simple. Beat this copy of you into a pulp, and all of you can progress. If you lose, you move back to the beginning. I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I gotta judge you people before I make a decision." She explains. Geno and Mario have complete understanding of what she means. Lupo is only getting impatient.

"Let's just get this over with. VIVIAN! BEAT THAT MOTHER FLOWER UP!" She shouts at the top of her lungs, and Vivian prepares to battle. The copy of Vivian is emotionless, yet it prepares the same fighting stance. This throws Vivian off guard, though. 'It knows my fighting style! Oh Mario, If only you could fight alongside me.' She negatively thinks to herself.

Before she knew it, the Ghost Vivian attacks first. The first thing she used was Firey Jinx, a move that Vivian has mastered. It made Vivian catch fire, but she rolled before she could get hurt. Vivian retaliates by using the same attack. Fortunately, the ghost was nowhere near as talented as she was, so it took heavy damage from the move.

"Good job, Vivi!" Adelenn squeals in happiness, and starts clapping for Vivian. Lupo was surprised at this. "Wait, why is she clapping when her ghost is losing?" she asks, but Mario and Geno are too focused on the battle to reply.

Vivian moves quickly and punches the Ghost Vivian right in the mouth. It stumbles back, giving Vivian time to attack. She starts to make a fireball, but she's frozen by the Ghost Vivian. Vivian couldn't move, and was stuck. 'Uh oh,' she thinks. Ghost Vivian strikes in a similar matter as she punches Vivian through the ice trap. Vivian stumbles and falls to the floor, but quickly recovers.

Mario and Geno desperately wanted to help their friend, but couldn't. Geno looks at Mario. "This is looking bad for Vivian. The 'Ghost' is using tactics that Vivian would normally use against HER opponents. She better think of something quick, or else she's gonna KO." Geno says. Mario frowns as these things start to become true to him. "Poor Vivian. I hope she can outsmart the ghost." He says with disappointment.

Vivian was in a defensive stance, while trying to figure out what to do. The Ghost Vivian continues to shower lightning bolts in an attempt to strike Vivian, but she was too fast. "Come on, Vivian, do something! She does everything I would do- THAT'S IT! I better do something out of the ordinary!" she comes up with an idea. Lupo notices this. "Oh, it looks like she's onto something. GO AND GET EM' VIVIAN!" She starts to shout for Vivian.

All of a sudden, Vivian pulls out a tiny pen, something that looked pretty harmless. "What is she DOING?" Mario says confusedly. The Ghost Vivian didn't appear to have this same item. When Ghost Vivian tries to strike Vivian with lightning, Vivian dashes up to her and pokes with the pen.

She tazes the Ghost Vivian with her electricity.

Geno immediately beams. "Wow, I guess she figured out something." He says to Mario, who nods back. "Yep, she did indeed." Mario states. They look back at the Ghost Vivian, to see her knocked out on the floor. It then separates into many ghosts, and it returns to Adelenn.

She pulls her long hair towards her back as she talks. "Great job, Vivian! You and your friends pass the first round! Now the next person will come up to fight." She says. She points her fingers towards the other three heroes, and tries to make a decision. "Hmm… Why don't… YOU go, Ms. Greene?"

Lupo was up next to battle. She seems to be excited to fight. "AW RIGHT! Let's go bash some skulls!" she shouts, and takes out Hamdraxel 1.3. Vivian steps back and walks to Mario and Geno, who clap for her for her successful battle. "Aw, it was nothing." Vivian states.  
"Ooh, we got ourselves a tough girl, huh? Let's hope you're as strong as you are spirited!" Adelenn says. With a wave of her finger, she summons even more ghosts to summon a figure similar in appearance to Lupo.

"Okay then. Better set Hamdraxel to Axe." With a push of a few buttons, the Axe form was in Lupo's control. It was a shiny, titanium blade, sharpened to the molecular level. It is able to cut through other metals with ease. What she didn't know was that Ghost Lupo would also take out the same Hamdraxel.

"Oh boy."

The Ghost Lupo was dangerously fast. It went up to Lupo in mere seconds, and nearly strikes her. Lupo dodges in time to retaliate, but also misses. They were evenly matched in terms of speed. The next strikes were giving with the Hamdraxel. Fortunately for Lupo, Ghost Lupo did not alter the Hamdraxel, so the range was limited. It was as if Ghost Lupo was attacking with a rock.

"Ha, this thing is slower than I thought." She taps her head to indicate what she was talking about. Next, Lupo swings heavily with the axe, just when Ghost Lupo starts to attack again. The axe lands right on Ghost Lupo's skull. "NICE!" The other three shout happily. The Ghost Lupo starts moving back, but not by much. It adapted to Lupo's strength, and is emulating it.

It wasn't good enough, as Ghost Lupo charged right into Lupo, and they started wrestling each other. It was even. Both Lupo and Ghost Lupo were barely budging each other, due to their enormous amounts of stamina and power. Both were struggling to win, but no other contact was made.

"C'mon, Lupo… Throw her or something!" Geno grinds his teeth in anxiety. Mario was feeling the same way. "She can do it. She HAS to do it." Mario says aloud. "Mario, she just might lose. "I'm scared for her." Vivian says and grabs ahold of Mario's left hand tightly in worry.

Lupo, who is still in the struggle, pushes Ghost Lupo off of her. "Alright, I've never really done this before, because I remember what happened last time… but it's worth a shot." She exclaims to herself. She jumps towards the Ghost Lupo and prepares a stance.

"What is she doing? Mario, WHAT IS SHE DOING!?" Geno starts shaking Mario wildly, but he just shook his head. "I… I DON'T know, Geno. Calm yourself, man…" Mario replies. "Just keep watching to see what happens."

It appeared as if Lupo is going to strike Ghost Lupo with a punch. Except it was no ordinary punch. She takes a deep breath and shouts…

"BOOM!"

When the punch lands, an enormous explosion occurs in synch with the punch. It was as if King Bob-Omb just exploded! The explosion was so powerful that Ghost Lupo instantly turned back into the ghosts that made it up. They disappear into the air.

Nobody could explain in words or in sounds of what they saw. Jaws wide open, they stare at the entire scene. Lupo relaxes from the position, and sits down on the floor. "Wow, I am tuckered out. Jeez, I shouldn't have done that." She says, before closing her eyes, and falling asleep.

Adelenn sends a couple of ghosts to carry Lupo back to the team. "Well done, Ms. Greene! That was awesome!" Adelenn shrieks again, amazed that Lupo was able to beat her ghastly counterpart. Mario and Geno smile. "Well, at least she thinks the same way, right?" They both say together. Vivian dashes towards Lupo's smiling, asleep body and checks her. "Good, still alive. I was getting worried…"

Adelenn was starting to get riled up over something that the heroes couldn't identify. "Eeek! Now you get to go, good-looking! Go fight and win!" she squeals. Mario and Geno look at each other. Geno smirks. "Ah, she must mean me, Mario! Just watch and learn from a true master!" Mario squints his eyes and gives Geno an evil look.

Geno almost gets hit by Geno Whirl the second after, and loses his hat. "…" Geno was silent. Mario just opened his mouth, as he falls silent. "Um…" Mario lets out. Geno became furious. "Oh… so that's how it's gonna be, huh?" He snaps his head towards Ghost Geno, who sent the blast towards Geno. "Well then… let's get this part started."

Geno was serious, and he dashes without warning of any kind. He lashes out a kick from his right leg and sends Ghost Geno on the floor. Ridiculously enough, he immediately initiates Geno Boost. Geno Boost allows Geno to boost someone in strength and speed, momentarily. He casts it upon himself and starts fighting rapidly. He lands incredibly fast jabs, and doesn't give Ghost Geno a chance to attack.

Geno finishes by back-flipping onto the other side of the platform. This time, he holds one hand up in the air, and shouts, "GENO WHIRL!" He throws the giant disc at the Ghost Geno, and the ghost breaks apart almost instantly! Mario and the others start clapping immediately. "WOW, NICE JOB, GENO!" They shouts.

Geno smirks. "Eh, that wasn't too bad." Adelenn was very surprised by Geno's short victory. "You beat him THAT fast!? EEEK! You're SO COOL!" She shouts as she claps her hands together, like a small child. "Indeed, I am!" Geno allows his cape to flap in the wind.  
"Alright, Mario! You're up next!" She says as this though she was singing the words out of her mouth. This makes Mario feel uncomfortable, but he steps up anyway. He takes out his Mega Hammer and waits for the next opponent to come up.

He was expecting a Ghost version of himself, but he did not receive one for about a minute. He looks up at Adelenn to see that she hasn't made a ghost opponent yet. "Hey, what's the big idea here? You're not gonna throw a Ghost Mario at me?" he yells impatiently. He wants to get the battle over with so he can grab the Crystal Sun and go find the rest. Adelenn, however, jumps down to the large platform.

"Well… I DO know that you've fought clones before. So I was thinking, 'hey, that wouldn't be fair for poor Mario! I should do something else to keep him entertained!' I came up with this brilliant idea, though! So, it goes something like this." Adelenn takes a deep breath before speaking again.

"I CHANGED THE RUUULES!" She yells.

Mario, Geno and Vivian were all shocked at what they hear. "What!? Explain yourself, Adelenn!" Vivian chastises the demon child. Hands on her hips, Adelenn says, "Well, Mario should fight ME, of course! Since he's fought SO many clones of himself. I think it's a great idea!" she giggles at the end. Mario does seem a bit worried, though.

"Um, Adelenn, are you unarmed? I can't fight you unless you have a weapon, or if I drop my weapon." He asks kindly. Adelenn merely shakes her head. "Nope! I AM armed! Thanks for reminding me, though! I was gonna fight without it."

She grabs behind her back, and tries to pull out something, but whatever it was, it wasn't there. Adelenn frowned, and simply snaps her fingers. From thin air, a massive scythe appears in Adelenn's hands. It was twice the size of herself, but it was incredibly sharp. Mario steps back a little due to the immense size of the thing. "Um, wow." He says.

"It's been pretty light lately. It's only 3000 tons and I can EASILY move it with my pinky finger. I wish that it could be heavier so that my attacks would do more damage…" Adelenn frowns with disappointment. Geno and Vivian are jolted with shock. "Did she say… three THOUSAND tons? Mario, she's no ordinary Demon Child!" Geno warns him.

But Mario just smiles. "Ha! You think that's cool? I could pick up that much weight with just my Pinky TOE, and even more, if I wanted to! Just try me, Adelenn! It's ON!" But Adelenn just shakes her head. "But… But I've been able to do that, too… except it was 8000 tons. Are you saying that you can do that? Impressive." She claps as though she was a golf player; gracefully. Mario steps back again. 'Woah.' He thinks. "WELL THEN!" Mario retaliates.

For about a few hours, the argument would refuse to end. It was a very repetitive cycle of how much weight each one can hold. But we all know I can hold more weight than any of these two nimrods. But that's beside the point.

Adelenn decides to cut the argument short and moves her scythe towards Mario. "Get ready!" As soon as she shouts that, she swings the scythe. Luckily, Mario jumped in time, and avoids getting his legs chopped off. "Oh, it's gonna be one of THOSE days, isn't it?" Mario sighs.

Mario lands on the ground and prepares to strike, only to have Adelenn keep him on his toes by repeatedly attacking his legs. Mario wasn't able to get a chance to stay on the ground, so he had to make one appear. Instead of jumping straight in the air, Mario waits for the fourth attack to strike the ground, and attacks Adelenn with his Mega Hammer! The Mega Hammer strikes Adelenn in the face.

'That should do it,' Mario thinks, as Adelenn stops attacking for a short moment. Except, she hardly moved when she was attacked. "Hrm, it was okay for a human, but you should try better. You do know you're fighting me, right?" she replies.

Vivian was shocked at this, and Geno even more so. Eyes wide open, he studies Adelenn closely. "Is she… is she REALLY a demon child? If she was, she'd be less powerful than this… She must be a Demon Lord! It's the only way one can achieve such power." He shouts aloud. "Even worse is, Mario's never fought one before now… This is looking bad."

A Demon Lord is a Demon who has achieved maximum power. They are very powerful not only physically, but magically, as well. They match even the power of the Crystal Suns, which contain sacred, yet dreadful powers on their own.

Except, Adelenn was NOT a Demon Lord. She had barely even begun to grow wings, which ALL Demon Lords have. She is still the Demon Child that all of the heroes suspected in the first place. Yet, there is also another stage of Demon…

The Demon Queen, who surpasses all of the Demons. Whoever is the Demon Queen has ultimate power, and is virtually unstoppable. These creatures also have wings. Fortunately, none of these demons have ever been evil or had evil intentions. Most Demon Queens use their power to help the sick and wounded by healing them, or help in large projects concerning the world. Geno didn't think that Adelenn would become one of them.

An instant later, Mario, is struck in the face with the scythe. He was sent to the other side of the platform immediately after. Mario couldn't believe the force of the strike. It was very painful, and if he took one more, he was sure to be either knocked out or even killed. 'That's insane… I don't think I'll make it like this…'

Just before he knows it, he's hit again by Adelenn with the Scythe. He wasn't moved at all, but he felt the scythe piercing him. He felt light-headed, and gets dizzy. "Mama Mia… I think I'm… done." Mario says before passing out.

"NO!" Geno yells. He immediately runs for Mario, and checks him. "Darn it Mario, wake up! You couldn't have POSSIBLY been beaten that badly!" Geno started to panic over his friend, and shakes Mario wildly.

Vivian was in so much shock that she couldn't move. 'Mario… lost. This is bad. We've never dealt with Mario being in this state.' She thinks. Vivian appears helpless as she sees Mario lying on the ground, defeated. Wondering what Adelenn was like; Vivian looks up to where she is.

She looked no less depressed than herself. "I think I overdid it…" Adelenn says. 'Oh boy; there I go fighting Mario, and I almost did… THAT.' She thinks to herself in deep thought. She unleashed a lot of power, but when she unleashes ALL of it, she can go out of control. This is a side effect of being a Demon Child, but she takes this into account at all times.

Adelenn starts biting her nails in anxiety; she doesn't know what to do! "Umm… Maybe we should patch him up or something? Give him some food!? I know he likes pasta and pizza! That'll work! Or maybe he needs something healthier, like celery. No, that's not like Mario at all! Oh no…" She starts speaking, and looks around. "Nope, no hospitals here." She whispers, like a tiny mouse.

Geno looks at Adelenn and sighs. "Vivian, get the Exit Pipe and we'll have him fixed up at Lupo's house. Just… don't wake up Lupo yet; she'll start tearing the whole place up." He says to Vivian. Vivian collects the Exit Pipe and enters along with the sleeping Lupo, Geno, and Mario.

Adelenn looks back at the Exit Pipe and notices that it's still there. She takes a good look at it, and back at the red Crystal Sun. "…Should I? I'm the one who caused this to happen… I think I'll make it up to them if I gave them a nice, big surprise to make it up for the beating I gave Mario. They might even forgive me... if I do THAT…" the mighty Death says to herself.

A FEW HOURS LATER…

Mario was asleep, and recovering from the fight he had with Adelenn. 'My bro's gonna think I'm weak for getting beaten by a girl… Mama Mia, this sucks.' He says in his dreams. But something else appears in his dreams. He suddenly appears in a dark realm. It was empty and completely black. However, he could see himself, along with another person in the realm.

Princess Peach.

"Mario…" The young princess begins to speak, and Mario bows down immediately. 'Oh, nuts.' He thinks, but nothing happens to him. The princess merely walks towards him. "We've been through a lot, haven't we? You, I, and even Bowser, have been around for quite a while, trying to be with me, and all I have done was keep us apart. As the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, I can't have pointless arguments separate good partners. I'm a princess, and you're a hero. You deserve more than what I can give you.

"I should start by apologizing. By apologizing for the fact that I have committed a heinous act against my people. Normally, I would never allow this to pass. However… I still did so. As is with our bickering. I wasn't in total control of myself. Every now and then, I feel a kind of force that commands me; that tells me what to do… and all I do is agree. This is not my doing, Mario…

"Something is..." She begins, but all of a sudden, a rumbling occurs within the realm. "I must go. All I can say for now is to find me later. The rest will be as clear as day." Mario looks up to see that the princess is gone. "Wha!?" he shouts in the realm.

Then, Mario wakes up.

He felt like he was drowning in his own sweat, even though he can't drown at all. He had to get up and look around. He notices that he is in Lupo's house, and that Vivian is tending to his wounds. Without knowing it, he jumps up, and his head collides with Vivian's. "YOWCH!" They both scream. Mario holds his head as he apologizes to Vivian.

"It's okay; I'm just making sure you don't die on us. None of us would wanna go through the hassle of finding a 1-Up." She replies. Although 1-Ups are very common and easily renewable, they are extremely hard to find, as they hide in a wide array of areas. Vivian just chuckles and says she was kidding, as she would be glad to find anything for Mario if he needed it.

Mario then asks what happened to Adelenn. Vivian frowns. "Well, we kind of left her behind to make sure you were alright, but we left the Exit Pipe open just in case we were to come back and challenge her again. Any ideas on what we should do?" She asks. Mario sits up and speaks. "Well, yeah! I need that Crystal Sun now! But this time, we have to take her on as a team. Fighting by myself led to nowhere." He says in anger. 'How could I let myself lose so easily? Was it that she was too strong? Or was it that I was too weak? Either way, I better figure out something. I knew I should've trained for this.' He thinks to himself.

"Speak of the Demon…" Vivian mutters, as from the corner of her eye, she sees Adelenn peering her head out of the dome. "Um… Mario?" she says like a child who was punished. Mario looks up and sees the sorrowful Adelenn. He was indeed upset with her, but tries not to show it. "…Yeah? What do you need?" he says in response.

"Well, really, YOU need something, don't you? Let me give it to you, please." She puts on a weak smile as she walks into the dome with a present box. Vivian looks at the box weirdly. 'What?' She thought. As Adelenn walks up to him, Mario sits up, and watches her carefully.

When she stops, she hands the present box towards him. "Well, happy early birthday, Mario!" Her smile becomes bigger, and she looks happier now. "Thanks, Adelenn." Mario states as he opens up the box. The contents that he finds start with a card.

"Dear Mario. I hope that when you accept this gift, you will forgive me for what I have done recently. I couldn't handle myself, and I am sorry for that. I would also like it if I could become a member of your wonderful party. You seem to have good friends that stick up to you, which I never had when I grew up. And, happy early birthday to you! From, Adelenn." Mario says aloud.

"Well, that's sweet of you." Mario says. "And I forgive you. You didn't even have to ask through the card; you can become a member NOW if you want to." He says to Adelenn. She beams with excitement and salutes Mario. "YES SIR. ADELENN BOSKRA REPORTING FOR DUTY!" she shouts. Everyone laughs heartily to this.

"Go on, look at the present you got!" Adelenn says. Mario does so, and when he does…

He was shocked to see what it was. "BEST EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!"

CHAPTER EIGHT END.


	10. 9: Smash

Chapter Nine: Smash

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 27

At last, Mario has received the red Crystal Sun! The present he obtains has just what he wants, which makes it a pretty good early birthday present from Adelenn. "Adelenn… thanks for doing this for us. It's really thoughtful of you to give us this, seeing as we desperately need this." The mustached hero says to his new partner. Adelenn cheerily smiles and responds. "Anytime!" she says to him. Vivian was quite amazed by the whole ordeal as well.

"Now, what can this one do?" Vivian asks. She can feel a warm energy emitting from the Crystal Sun, so she knew there was some unawaken power residing in it. Adelenn touches the Crystal Sun and says, "Well, I call it Sunny Day. I feel so warm when I touch this, but I also feel very strong as well. From what I can tell, this is most likely a Crystal Sun that allows protection to the user." Adelenn states. "Pretty neat, huh?"

Mario and Vivian like this Crystal Sun's abilities already. "Sweet! But for now, we need to get to Sky Sanctum. Let's go get Geno and Lupo." Vivian says as she looks outside where the Bedroom Dome is.

Vivian then hears something quite disturbing in the distance.

"WHAAAAAAAAT!? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" It appears to be Lupo's voice, and she was furious. A second later, Vivian could see Geno flying outside the Bedroom. Unfortunately, he landed face-first as well. "Aye… should've just kept my big mouth shut." He mutters to himself. Vivian's jaw dropped, and she wouldn't move for a moment.

"Just… just get your two behinds over here. Mario just got up." Vivian says to Geno, in which he replies, "Yeah, this one just got up too. She's kinda cranky." He gets up to dust himself, even though the Observatory is cleaner than most testing facilities.

A FEW MOMENTS LATER…

Mario told Lupo everything that happened up to now, but not without getting clubbed in the head for losing. Fortunately, Mario could explain the rest of it before Lupo tried to fight Adelenn herself. "So… is that it!? We're going to slip by everyone by just getting our butts handed to us on a silver platter!? Mario, we don't know if we can trust her! She nearly KILLED you about three hours ago! My GOODNESS! You're TOO forgiving of people!" Lupo scolds Mario.

He looks at the floor in anger as a response to Lupo's chastising. 'Boy, don't I hate it when people think I'm weak.' He thinks to himself angrily. He looks back up to Lupo to speak again.

"…Hit me with your best shot, if you think I'm so weak." He says.

Lupo responds without warning. "HERE, YOU DESERVE IT, YOU NO-GOOD EXCUSE FOR A PLUMBER!" and as she says so, Lupo hits Mario dead in the face with a devastating punch; the same kind of punch that she delivered to her ghost clone.

Nothing. Mario felt absolutely nothing. Geno, Adelenn, and Vivian all saw the entire thing go down, and all were in awe. "Did he… did he just…WHAT." Geno stutters in shock. "Wow, he's WAY tougher than I thought he would be." Adelenn whispers in Geno's ear.

"LUPO!" Vivian screams. All of a sudden, Lupo was on the ground, all scrunched up and holding her right hand in pain. "What happened!?" Vivian yells again, but then she realizes what really happened.

Lupo actually broke her hand punching Mario! "Wait, how can this be possible!? Mario, you're not telling me something! When did you get this powerful?" She asks Mario in a worried tone, bewildered by the fact that he incapacitated Lupo without even trying to. Even Lupo, who would barely say anything, was quite puzzled herself. 'Why? Why did I think he would get hurt by that? Stupid Lupo…' She thinks to herself.

Mario merely chuckles heartily as he hears this. "Vivian, I've been training VERY hard for the past two years. So naturally, I became tougher. I just didn't want it to be too obvious because I've been saving it for a certain someone… Link. The Super Smash Brothers Tourney begins soon, so I hope to meet him in the finals. And I WILL win this time!" Mario says. "But I AM sorry for hurting Lupo…" Lupo just gives Mario a thumbs up with her good hand, still scrunched up.

Geno knew from the start that Mario was hiding his power. "Didn't fool me, but you were pretty good at showing it." He says. Adelenn thought quite the opposite, though. "Fooled me well enough! I wanted to have a fair fight with you, and you tricked me… Oh well." she says insecurely.

"But now we should be getting to Sky Sanctum, right? Let's go before we get caught up in anything else." Mario quickly states. Before he heads out the dome, he puts a Max Mushroom into Lupo's mouth. She eats it and her hand was revitalized from the excruciating pain she received from the blow. She gets up and says, "Thanks, cousin." Mario simply nods as he urges his friends to head out.

On their way out, though, was Rosalina. She stopped the heroes momentarily. She puts her heart to her hand and looks at the heroes. "My friends… I must bid you five farewell, and hope that your journey continues brightly. As for me, I will have to stay here for another two years, to ensure the Cosmic Observatory is back up and running. So, while I wait, I shall participate in some of your events. Is that alright?" She asks.

Mario simply says, "Why, yes! I'm sure you'll do fine!" And with that, the heroes head off to the Sky Sanctum. "Be sure to come back afterwards, heroes of the Land of the Mushroom!"

(…And this is how Rosalina participates in Mario Kart.)

A FEW MINUTES LATER…

The heroes return to the pedestal of the Flash Flood Crystal Sun. They thought that they should start from there. The area was empty as usual, except for another door with a star symbol on it. "Adelenn, see if you can get the door open with the Sunny Day Crystal Sun." Mario tells Adelenn. Adelenn nods her head as she casually walks to the Sun Door. "What do I do?" She asks as she carefully studies the door.

Mario gives Adelenn a look of confusion. "Strange… that door should've opened already." He says. Indeed, Mario was correct. The door should've opened because the Crystal Sun was in a close proximity to the Sun Door. When Lupo notices, she walks up to Adelenn. "Hmm… Maybe you're doing it wrong?" she questions the Demon Child. She takes the Crystal Sun and holds it skyward.

But the Sun Door doesn't react. "Oh, boy. This thing is really starting to tick me off right now." Lupo clenches the Crystal Sun tightly and raises it higher, which makes Geno worry. Geno snatches the Crystal Sun before she could slam it to the ground.

"How about we try something less violent?" Vivian carefully asks, as she points towards the pedestal. Geno gets the hint, and places the Crystal Sun on the pedestal.

Surely enough, the red Crystal Sun begins to pulsate. So does the Magical Map, and when Vivian sees the pulsation, she pulls out her Tattle Log and takes out the Magical Map. She hands it to Mario, who knows what to do with it. The red hero holds the Magical Map skyward, and a beam of light descends from the sky.

Mario checks the Magical Map for anything off or unusual. Except, nothing was quite odd at first. "Huh, I didn't think it would work." Mario said. The next Crystal Sun shows its location quite clearly. It was a sparkling white, like a diamond. The Crystal Sun is right next to Peach's Castle, located in a very special location.

Mario shows further interest in the location by putting his nose directly on the Magical Map and studying the location carefully. "Oh. Oh, no. Don't tell me… Mama Mia…" he shouts worriedly. Adelenn looks over his shoulder and looks at the Crystal Sun's location. "What's wrong, Mario?" She asks cutely.

"Oy, Mama Mia… This is an arena, and not just any old arena. This is where the decision match will be held for the Super Smash Brothers Tourney. This… is not good. Better pack a LOT of spaghetti, because you guys will have to watch me participate in one of the most grueling tournaments ever." He says in response to Adelenn. The other four look at him with surprised faces.

"Will you… will you be fine out there fighting by yourself?" Lupo asks.

"Will you be alright without us?" Vivian asks worriedly.

"Can you fight as well as you look and say you do?" Adelenn giggles softly.

"Go kick some butt out there for me, would ya?" Geno says.

Mario laughs heartily at all of their responses. "It's alright, I'll be fine. But you guys are free to spectate. Master Hand is always appreciative of guests." He says. "So why don't we start getting headed to the guild hall right now?"

"Wait, what?" Geno looks up. "You have a Warp Pipe to the guild hall? Sweeeet." He says as Mario pulls out a platinum Exit Pipe, one that none of the other four have seen before. It was very shiny and unlike anything they've ever seen. 'What kind of pipe IS that?' Geno wonders.

"This'll take us to the guild hall in no time. I just need someone to install it to the floor. Lupo?" He calls his cousin. "Oh, alright. Gimme a sec." She says, as she pulls out the Hamdraxel 1.3. She sets it to hammer form, and starts pounding the Warp Pipe into the cloud floor. Within a minute, it's ready for use.

"Why is this thing so shiny?" Adelenn states. "It's all sparkly like a wittle baby Eevee." But Geno just gives her an awkward look. "Seriously? An Eevee? Eevees don't even… ugh." He says with his face thoroughly buried into his hand. "Uh, yeah they do." Mario replies happily. "But for now, let's hop in! I'll introduce you to my friends over there!"

And in a short while, Mario escorts the three ladies into the Warp Pipe. Geno heads down right after them, and Mario is the last to guide them through. And with this, they warp to the Smash Brothers Guild Hall!

MOMENTS LATER…

The Smash Brothers Guild Hall. A very wondrous place. A place where the universe's greatest heroes unite and fight to entertain the crowds, and make the world a better place though crime fighting and justice! Well, at least some of the guild members do this. It was a very classy building. Elaborate wooden panels filled the floor with elegance, and the decorative wooden furniture makes the place feel like a cozy cabin.

The people of the guild were even more wondrous. It has people like Kirby, the hero of Pop Star, who is very much like a child, but is a fierce warrior in battle! There are also other heroes like Ike, Marth, Link, Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, and even the Ice Climbers! And don't forget Zelda, Meta Knight and Yoshi!

In the Super Smash Brothers Guild Hall, Link was drinking a glass of Lon Lon Milk that his cousin made just for him. It made him feel energized, and mostly because he was drinking Chateau Romani in reality, thus making him feel the hiccups (yes, he's drunk). He sees Kirby wondering around right next to him. "Oh, um… *hic* Kirby! You know where I can, *hic* find some Seltzer Water? Malon gave me Chateau Roman- *hic* Romani." He explains lazily.

"Paiiyu!" Kirby shouts cutely. When he goes up to the bar, he gets a cup of Seltzer Water for Link. He inhales it and spits it out back into his hands. "Payo." Kirby says quietly. He continues to walk to Link, happier than anyone can normally be.

That is, until a Platinum Warp Pipe bursts out of the wooden floor. "PAIYU!?" Kirby trips and falls on his poor pink face, while Link ends up getting his Seltzer Water right in his hand. He too notices the Platinum Warp Pipe. "Did I drink a whole two gallons of Chateau Romani, or is that actually a- *hic* Warp Pipe?" he says.

Link drinks his seltzer water and he becomes stimulated again. He looks towards the cafeteria, and notices that Luigi was already there. "So it's not Luigi, and Wario just got in here a few seconds ago. So that must mean…" he wonders to himself. The only person who has a Platinum Warp Pipe other than Wario and Luigi is Mario. Link automatically knows that Mario is coming.

Even the other Smash Brothers guild members were showing up to see what was going on. The guild members all surrounded the Warp Pipe, and waited for Mario to come out of it. It was so exciting for most of them, while others were not very amused.

But out the Platinum Warp Pipe came a blue figure with a Roc's Cape. Next came a redheaded figure with a dress similar to Peach's. It certainly wasn't Mario at all! Within a matter of seconds, people took battle positions. The figures were indeed Geno and Adelenn, but surrounded by many fighters.

"You two! State your names!" A figure exclaims, and walks into the middle of the crowd. The figure wears a blue bandana, and a mixture of tattered and new robes, along with a tattered red cape. He has steel toed boots, and a very large, two-handed yellow sword. He's accompanied with a young man who took on a similar appearance, but had a blue cape, and blue robes, along with a sword amongst relics.

Both had short hair, but the younger one seems to be royalty, unlike the other. The younger man is also very quiet. Both of them look at Geno and Adelenn with very serious looks, which caused some panic in Geno.

Immediately Geno and Adelenn raise their hands up in surrender. "We… uh, we mean no harm! My name is Geno, a- erm, Guardian of the Star Road, and this, uh… this is my… uh…" Geno starts to worry a little bit, and this causes him to stutter. But Adelenn comes up with something clever.

"And I'm his wife, Adelenn! We came here with Mario!" she squeals happily. Geno suddenly looks at her with his eyes wide open and thinks, 'WHAT ARE YOU DOIIIING!?' he screams inside his head. The two knights didn't buy it at all, and pull their swords out to interrogate. "Mario should've been the first one to come out of this Warp Pipe. Now tell us why you're here, or we'll have to get physical." The first knight shouts.

But before anything could happen, Link steps up and defends the two. "Ike! Marth! These are Mario's friends! Don't hurt them, they probably came to spectate or something." He yells at the two knights, and the older one looks up. "Oh. But if they're here, where's Mario?" Ike asks. Link looks down the Warp Pipe and says, "He should be here any minute now. I can hear his voice. STAND DOWN, EVERYONE!" Link says to the other guild members, and they do so immediately.

Link looks happily towards Geno and gives him a proper handshake. "Hey there, Geno. So glad you could come and see the tournament." Next, he gives Adelenn a gentle handshake. "Why hello there, Mrs. Geno. It's quite a pleasure to meet you." Adelenn giggles a little bit and says, "Nice to meet you, too!" Next, Link immediately grabs Geno like a toy, and pulls him to the side to speak to Adelenn quietly.

"Two things. The first is important; where are Vivian, Lupo and Mario? I thought you guys were on some kind of big mission." He asks. Geno simply replies, "Well, the thing is, we need Mario to win this month's Tourney in order to snag our next Crystal Sun. It's literally in the decision match's arena, which is near Princess Toadstool's Castle."

Within a few seconds after, Lupo, Vivian, and finally Mario, emerge out the Warp Pipe, being flung out as if they were thrown. "Aye, Mama Mia! I didn't know we'd get there THAT fast." He says, rubbing his hand on to the back of his head.

Suddenly, the entire guild was roaring with happiness. There were people whistling, shouting happily, and clapping. Then, the entire guild started chanting Mario's name! "MA-RI-O! MA-RI-O! MA-RI-O! MA-RI-O! MA-RI-OOOOOOO!" they say, and Mario was quite amazed. He bows and says, "Thank-a you, my friends! Thank-a you very much!"

"Second thing. Less important, but still kinda important." Link starts again. "I thought you had a girlfriend. Now you have a wife!? Are you a pimp or something?" Geno flat out blushes and becomes infuriated. 'I wish I could beat this guy up right now… but I cannot.' he thinks. "Just… just leave it alone for now." Link looks at him in disappointment. He wanted to know more about Geno's "wife."

However, Link now walks back to Mario and friends. He gives Mario a good handshake, and gives Vivian and Lupo very gentle handshakes. He turns back to Mario to speak to him. "Glad you could make it, Mario. We were worried that you weren't coming to this month's tourney. That would've been terrible!"

"Well, isn't it a good thing that I'm here then, am I right? Great to see you participating as well, Link. I thought Master Hand was going to let someone else partake." Mario replies. "Speaking of which… Where IS Master Hand?"

The other heroes, besides Geno, did not know who this "Master Hand" identity is. Vivian and Lupo look at each other, and put on a puzzled face. Adelenn tries to come up with something on the fly, though. "Is he… A GIANT HAND!?" She shouts and asks simultaneously. Geno looks at her lazily and says, "…Kinda. Let me explain."

"The Master Hand is a god, like Rosalina. He's been around for as long as life can remember. He is the guild master of the Super Smash Brothers, which he founded three centuries ago. That would be Year Star. Since gods are incapable of dying, he's been around since. I may have been around for only 40,000 years, but I'm no god. I'm just a Star Guardian."

Link looks at the ground for a second in sorrow. "Well, he was busy today. Crazy Hand was on a rampage, and Rosalina kindly asked him to deal with his twin brother. So in place of him, we have a cute little Waddle Dee, and he will be watching over our battles. His name is Glaae. Glaae Seeon. Interesting name for a Waddle Dee, if I say so myself." He says.

Mario was quite interested to see Glaae, and why he was chosen to substitute for the Master Hand. But at the current moment, the other four were amazed by the sight of the Guild Hall. It was incredible, in their eyes. "Wow, so clean! So pretty!" Adelenn says as she smells the delightful aroma of the place. "Feels like home." Lupo says with a smirk. "Feels like that nice restaurant near Mario's house." Vivian says, as she giggles toward Mario.

"Feels like a pub." Geno says, but nobody could tell if he was disappointed or not. Adelenn just hugs him from the back to keep him quiet. "Look, hun! They even have a second floor for dorms!" She shouts as she points towards the second floor. From there, she can see very comfortable beds. She hasn't slept in a bed for a long time, so she was pretty excited to get to sleep on one. She even began to fantasize about getting her own pillow to put her head on!

"So Link…" Mario goes back to his friend. "I want my friends to meet Cap and Meta Knight. Why don't you call them for me, buddy?" he asks Link. He simply nods his head and walks casually towards the bar.

'I wonder if they're having a drinking contest again. They sure do love to guzzle down that soda.' Link wonders. Putting this in mind, he continues to walk to the bar. The bar was small, but it was as clean as the rest of the guild hall. There were a bunch of stools to sit on, and near the counter were two bartenders. Their names are Popo and Nana, but they're known as the Ice Climbers. They're both twelve years old, and new to the guild hall.

Link walks up toward them and asks them where "Cap" and Meta Knight were. Sure enough, Popo points towards a table nearby. Surely enough, Link finds his two friends, drinking whole liters of soda.

"Doug. Meta Knight. Mario's looking for you in the hall. Why don't you go say hi to him and his friends?" Link suggests. In the middle of their guzzling, they stop immediately. Both stand up to look at Link. "SWEET! He's here!" The taller man said.

Their names were Meta Knight and Captain Douglas Jay Falcon. Meta Knight is a Star Warrior, just like Kirby. He even has the same shape, but he's blue, and wears purple shoes. He also has a grey, menacing mask that covers his face. Only Kirby knows what's behind that mask. He's a master swordsman like Link, and uses a short sword named Galaxia, a legendary blade of gold.

Captain Douglas Jay Falcon, or known just as Captain Falcon, is a famous racer of the F-Zero races. He is the champion of F-Zero, and it's all thanks to his Blue Falcon. Captain Falcon has a red helmet with a black visor on it. There is a Golden Falcon crested at the top of it. He's as tall as Link. He wears a yellow scarf, along with a blue jumpsuit that has a falcon on the back as a design. He uses hand-to-hand combat.

"I was wondering when he'd show up. Let's go see him." Meta Knight says, with a breath of relief. As he gets up, he immediately runs for the hall. Captain Falcon follows right behind him. Mario and friends notice the two running right after him. But something was quite interesting.

Captain Falcon was preparing to punch. "FALCOOOON…" He shouts. Immediately after, every guild member looks at him, as they know what's going to happen. But Mario simply jumps out of the way. Unfortunately, the person behind him was going to suffer a hit from one of the nastiest hits in existence.

And that person was Adelenn.

"PUNCH!" Instantly, a flame in the shape of a falcon, along with Captain Falcon's fist, hits Adelenn directly in the nose! She lets go of Geno instantly, and Adelenn holds her nose tightly, as a small amount of blood was coming out of it. This causes her to instantly pull out her scythe and retaliate by giving Captain Falcon a blow right to the head!

This causes Captain Falcon to fall on the floor. "Ow… That girl… definitely has some moves." He says. Mario lands and helps Captain Falcon up. "Nice job there." He mutters with a lazy eye. "Anyway, what's going on with you guys?"

"Eh, nothing much. We've been hanging around here for a while. The first fights happen tomorrow, so beforehand, I got some training in." Says Captain Falcon. "But your friend Link is a total machine. He. Never. Stops. At least, not until he's hungry or someone asks him to stop, like his girlfriend Malon. I think she's his girlfriend." Vivian gave Captain Falcon a disgusted look from what he says. "That's his cousin, NOT his girlfriend." She replies.

":O", Captain Falcon says in response. Normally, I would make the same face myself in an occasion such as this. The mere thought of that just smacks you in the face, doesn't it, reader? Anyway, back to the story.

Meta Knight went to shake Mario's hand with his own. "It's good to see you again, Mario. It's also great that you brought some friends to watch the Tourney. Not to be rude or anything, but who are your friends, if I may ask?" he says to Mario. Mario looks back at his friends, and gestures towards them.

"First, meet Vivian, a Shadow Siren. She's never heard of this place before, so don't mind if she starts asking a lot of questions." He says. Vivian waves her hand to Meta Knight and shakes his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Ms. Vivian." Meta Knight gracefully exclaims like a gentleman. "Then we have my cousin, Lupo. She's awfully a lot like me, and I only met her a few days ago! Isn't that crazy?" Lupo simply waves at Meta Knight. "Nice to meet ya." She says.

"This… Is Adelenn! Normally she's a very nice person… until she's ticked off." Mario states. Meta Knight reaches out to shake Adelenn's hand, but is backlashed by some fierce words. "¡Deja, deja! No toca. Tú estás sucio, como ÉL." She yells as she points towards Captain Falcon. Unfortunately, Meta Knight knew what she said. "Hey." He replies. "What happened to your eye, Mrs. Geno? It looks like a void…" Captain Falcon asks, completely oblivious to what she said. "We'll get to that later, Cap." Mario says.

"And finally, we have Geno, our friend from the Star Road. He's one of the strongest beings in this quadrant of the universe." Mario states. Captain Falcon studies him for a moment, and Geno just looks at him with his blank, lazy eyes. "Hey, I've seen you before. Didn't you try to qualify for membership a while ago?" He asks the Star Guardian. "Well, yeah! I'm still waiting to be accepted! Then, I can face the strongest of all time in battle!" He shouts excitedly.

"…Something's holding you back, but it's not Master Hand, I assure you. Someone may not want you to participate." Meta Knight says. "I really hope it isn't money-related… Master Hand ALWAYS runs into these kinds of greedy menaces."

Mario finishes introducing his friends to Captain Falcon and Meta Knight, and they start to go over the tourney rules. "Alright, Mario. This month's tourney is going to work like this; the whole gang is participating. That means you, your brother, Link, Pikachu, Yoshi, Fox, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Jigglypuff, Ness, Samus, and myself." States Captain Falcon. "So tomorrow will cover all of the Round 1 matches. You're in the first match with Samus."

"Samus, huh? Interesting challenge. But why am I always her opponent in the first round!?" Mario says with an upset tone. Captain Falcon just raises his arms in confusion. "Unfortunately, your friends can't help you at ALL during this, but they'll be free to watch you tear apart your opponents. Heck, we even got all-you-can-eat buffets!"

"FOOD." Adelenn groans as she hugs Geno with a terrifying grip. "Thou shalt retrieve food for thy wife!" She says while she smiles childishly, while Geno sighs deeply. "Okay, okay. We'll get something to eat in a little while, alright?" he assures, as he pets Adelenn's head. However, his mind is far from food. 'And now I have to put up with this.' He ponders. "Alright!" Adelenn replies with a light-hearted giggle.

"Well, it's getting late. I suggest you guys go get some rest before we start the tournament. Good luck out there! I'll be on my absolute best today!" Shouts Captain Falcon. Mario smiles. "Likewise, Captain." He then turns around and starts to speak to his friends. "Alright, people. Let's go get something to eat. Then, we'll settle in for the night. I'm STARVING." Mario states as he holds his grumbling stomach.

A FEW MINUTES LATER…

Mario and his friends sit with a few of Mario's other friends in the cafeteria. Those figures being Link, Kirby and his brother, Luigi. They all introduced each other, and began to eat. Surprisingly enough, they were all eating the same thing.

Maxim Tomatoes. Kirby's FAVORITE food besides candy. "Paiyuu." He says, indicating that he wants his friends to eat. Mario, Luigi, Adelenn and Link didn't hesitate at all, and ate them immediately. The other three… not so much. "Just tomatoes, huh? How do they taste?" Vivian asks. Mario puts his thumbs up as he eats a Maxim Tomato. So did Link and Luigi. Kirby was too busy eating away!

Lupo was hungry, so she didn't care what was on her plate. "I'm just gonna eat this." She says, and puts a Maxim Tomato in her mouth. Her eyes opened, as the sensation that she felt was rejuvenating! "WOW! THIS IS DEEEELISH!" She shouts, and goes for another one. Vivian felt like she should eat one as well, and so she does. "Holy Rosalina! This IS delicious!" This ultimately forces Geno to make the decision to eat one. "Here goes nothing." And finally, he eats one.

"Interesting… fruit with the ability to revitalize one who eats it… not bad!" He says as he continues to taste it. "Although it needs a touch of salt. Then it'll be perfect!" He suggests. When everyone looks up at Geno, they actually TRY OUT his suggestion, and they loved the Maxim Tomatoes even more.

"Alright, then. Kirby, thanks for the meal. It tasted great." Link thanks the pink Star Warrior. "But we need to go to sleep. Don't eat any candy after midnight! Okay?" Kirby simply agrees by nodding, and cutely walks into the second floor. "Well, Mario… See you in the morning. You've got a fight with Samus!" Link and Mario shake hands. "See ya, Link. Good luck in the ring!" And with that, the five heroes head towards Mario's dorm.

A MOMENT LATER…

Mario's dorm was pretty easy to understand. It was also Luigi's dorm, too. It had a giant M on it, in the same font as the M on his red hat. "Looks good as new, bro." Luigi states, combing his mustache. "G'nite." He says before finally going into the bunk bed. The others just start to get in, but they have trouble getting into a bed.

"Alright guys… There are four spare beds, besides the bunk bed Mario and Luigi share." States Geno. "So, here's how we're gonna break this up. Lupo takes this middle bed, and Vivian will take the bed next to Mario and Luigi's bunk bed." Then, he turns around to face a bed. "I'll take this front bed while Adelenn takes the bed all the way in the back." While he wasn't looking, Adelenn snapped her fingers, and the bed lit on fire; GREEN fire. "Umm… This bed suddenly lit on fire!" Adelenn says with a pseudo-shocked face. "I guess I'll have to share a bed with Geno." Geno responds by putting on an unimpressed expression. "You guessed right. Now let's get to bed, people." He finally says.

"Ladies first." Mario states, and escorts Vivian and Lupo to their beds. They were very comfortable, and they could easily sleep on the beds. "Oooh, I like this." Vivian says as she punches the pillow. Lupo does the same thing, but nearly breaks the bed. "Hehe, oops." She mutters. They finally get into bed and fall asleep pretty easily.

Next, Adelenn gets tucked into bed by Geno, surprisingly. "Good night, 'sweetheart.'" Geno says saracastically, but ultimately smiles. "Good night, 'honey!'" Adelenn replies with a light laugh. She then falls asleep, as if there wasn't a care in the world. It was also her first time in twenty years that she's slept in a bed! Geno just watches in amazement in how easily she sleeps.

"Well, I guess it's time for us to hit the hay as well, huh? Good night, Mario." Geno says, before going into his shared bed. "Good night, Geno." Mario says with a yawn. He checks his sleeping brother, but nobody knows why. "You better not suck me up this time, Luigi!" He whispers. Finally, Mario goes to his bed, and falls asleep.

Geno was still slightly awake, thinking about what was going to happen during Mario's first match. 'I hope he wins against Samus. I'm pretty sure he can, but he can't be hiding his full potential like that.' He thinks to himself. And as he does so, he starts to feel something grabbing him from his turned body. It was a pretty hard grip, and Geno couldn't escape it. But Geno knew who it was. Then, he felt a kiss on his cheek.

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

CHAPTER NINE END.


	11. 10: RAWR

Chapter Ten: RAWR

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 28

Another bright, sunny day arrives. It feels gorgeous, and the sun is happy, and smiling brightly. This should be a great day for the heroes to fight, and hopefully to score a great victory.

Except the fact that five seconds later, it starts raining wildly. A few seconds later, lightning and thunder follow behind, ready to strike at whatever they want. Luckily, Rosalina was the one responsible for this thunderstorm, so nobody would become injured by the strikes.

The only thing that she couldn't stop was waking up guild members in the guild hall who were sleeping. That also included some of our heroes.

The first to awaken was Mario, who was rudely interrupted by the sound of thunder when dreaming about destroying Bowser in a casual game of tennis. "Ah, Mama Mia. It's raining today, isn't it?" he mutters to himself with a giant yawn. As he gets up, he folds himself up like a piece of paper, and this causes him to put on his normal clothes instead of his pajamas once he unfolds. "Oh, that was a little bit easier than I thought it would be." He says happily.

The second and third to awaken were Vivian and Lupo, who were also in pajamas. "Oh… hi, Mario…" Lupo groans, along with a yawn. Vivian didn't even bother to say anything, and folded herself like a piece of paper. The result was the same as Mario's, and she was in her purple dress and scarf again. Lupo saw this, but didn't believe it at all. "Well, better go get changed…" she says, rubbing her drowsy eyes. She heads towards the bathroom in the back of the dorm, and shuts the door.

The next to wake up was poor Geno, who was still in Adelenn's death grip. He still couldn't budge, but he was still able to speak. "Psst. Mario. Over here." He whispers, and Mario looks around the room. "It's Geno, you nincompoop!" He whispers again. Mario goes over to Geno and asks him what the matter is. "Yeah… I can't get up just yet. Adelenn's still sleeping, and I literally cannot get out of her grip anyway." He says. Mario gives a small laugh.

"I see. You go stay with your girlfriend while I go get some breakfast for us. Peace!" Mario gives Geno the peace sign while he runs out of the dorm laughing mightily. "Darn you, Mario." He says. Next, the sleeping Adelenn's grip becomes tighter, which chokes Geno a little bit. "Ack! Uh oh!"

Suddenly, Adelenn wakes up and shoots up from the bed. "THE CAKE WAS STOLEN!" She screams, holding even tighter to Geno. "ACK… ADELENN. STOP." He struggles to say. Adelenn notices that she's suffocating Geno, and lets him go immediately. "Oh, are you okay? I didn't hurt you, right?" She asks Geno, who catches his breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Mario was gonna get a table for us to eat breakfast." He stands up. "Oh, then let's go!" She says, and grabs Geno's hand. She pulls him towards the cafeteria against his own will.

MOMENTS LATER…

After eating a savory meal of Lon Lon Beef with Mystical Eggs, the heroes were ready for the first match to start. Everyone except Mario and his opponent had to leave to the bleachers; Mario's match was first. The match would start in a few minutes, so he had some time to talk to his friends.

Link, one of Mario's best friends, decides to give him some fighting tips for Samus. "Alright, Mario. You know that you're going up against Samus, so I don't really have to explain much. She likes to overwhelm her targets with her missiles; preferably her Super Missiles. You know, the green ones. If this happens, jump! Super Missiles aren't homing, so use this chance to give her the good ol' aerial assault!" Link states. "You think you could do it, bud?" Link pats Mario on the back. Mario grits his teeth a little bit. "I dunno… I've seen Samus fight before… she fights viciously, just like you." Mario sighs. "Don't worry, dude. I'm sure you can do it! Heck, you beat ME once. That should be encouragement enough!" Link laughs heartily.

"My man is right, you know." A voice says from a distance.

Mario turns around to see a young woman. She has a blue jumpsuit, and metal all around some of her body parts, such as plating underneath her knees, plating on her entire arms, and some plating around her waist and armpits. Her amber brown hair could be spotted underneath her awkward hat, which had a siren and winged blades on it. She was short, like Link. She also owned a boxy pistol.

She takes her hand out as to give him a handshake. "Patricia Wagon. Nice to meet you, Mario." She says. Mario shakes her hand and says, "Likewise. If I may ask, where do you come from?"

"Oh, me? I hail from tiny planet south of this one. It's called Planet Land." Patricia states. "I'm law enforcement. Came here because my special pain in the neck was here. Wanted to see him fight!" She clenches her fist and performs a fist pump.

"Hi, Pat!" Link shouts cheerfully. "Back from busting the Hooligan Sisters again?" Patricia takes off her helmet. "You think? Look at all the sweat my cranium made when I was catching them! The Helmet Siren got all sticky on the inside!" She replies. "Wow, pretty intense. Hope it wasn't too hard for you." Link replies with an unusually bright smile. "Well, I'll talk to you later, Ms. or Mrs. Wagon. The match is about to start!" Mario states. Patricia waves her hand, and sees Mario off.

The main hall of the guild contains a giant door, leading to several Warp Pipes that lead into the many stages that Master Hand uses for the Super Smash Bros. Matches. He knew that he was supposed to enter the first one. It led to a subspace arena called the Final Destination. That is where the first match is always held.

Instantly, Mario jumps into the Warp Pipe, and warps into Final Destination.

LATER…

Mario found himself at the right place, and so did everyone else, for he could see bleachers all around him. People from around the universe came to see this tournament, and there were tons of people. Most of them were fans, and the rest were people new to watching the tournaments. Regardless, they all shout proudly.

In the corner of his vision, Mario could see a Waddle Dee on a floating platform, with a microphone. Sure enough, it was the Waddle Dee that Link was talking about. Glaae Seeon.

"OOOOOOH YEAH! WELCOME! TO! SUPER! SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH BROTHERRRRRRRRRRRS!" Glaae screams into his microphone. The crowd goes insane with whistling and shouting. It was definitely impressive, in Mario's eyes. "Welcome to the Tourney of Month MOON! Today, we will start off with the Round One Matches!"

"In this corner, we have a 250 pound battle MACHINE! You can NEVER mistake those blue overalls, and that red hat! He's THAT popular! Let's give it up for MARIOOOOOOOOOOO!" Glaae shouts once again into the microphone, and the universal crowd becomes wild again. Mario waves his hands to attract the crowds.

"And in THIS corner, we have your favorite orange bounty hunter! A galactic hero who saved her galaxy from an entire race of monsters. Let's hear it for SAMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!"

Samus is a friend of Mario, and a very tough one. She wears an orange Power Suit that has circular shoulder blades. Her entire body is covered in it. She has a red helmet with a green visor. Inside, you can see her light skin and blonde hair, and her piercing light blue eyes. If you look even more, you can see that she wears a blue jumpsuit.

Her most interesting feature is her Arm Cannon, a green cannon-shaped object that Samus uses to shoot projectiles. This is what Mario needs to focus on, for Samus uses this the most.

"You ready, Mario? I won't go easy on you!" Samus smirks. Mario smirks back. "Likewise, Samus. Good luck!" he says.

Glaae Seeon picks up the microphone again. "Alright, you two! Here ARE the rules! This IS… A! ONE STOCK MATCH! A single KO and you're OUTTA here! He shouts. "Also! A little twist that I put myself! ICY FLOOR, SUCKAS! BLIZZOW, BABY!" The hyper Waddle Dee pulls out a white Crystal Sun, and aims it at the battlefield. Mario looks up. "He has it!" He says to himself.

Suddenly, the floor becomes ice! 'Mama Mia!' Mario thinks. He doesn't usually fight on slippery ground, but he knows that if a battlefield is iced, he can't grab the ledges! The battlefield is just a single platform, and there's a straight drop.

Samus was pretty impressed as well, since she was actually attracted to what was going on. "Well, I've never seen this before, not gonna lie." She says to Mario. "So, let's get thi-"

"THREE! TWO! ONE! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Glaae roars into the microphone, and immediately, the match begins!

This threw Mario in a loop, for Samus was charging at a deadly speed! Luckily, Mario dodges before Samus could punch him. He retaliates with his own kick, which Samus reacts to. "Pretty good, but how do you like THIS!?" Samus shoots a bunch of Super Missiles right at Mario's direction.

'JUMP!' Mario encourages himself to leap into the air. He pulls out a Red Shell whilst in midair. But before he could throw it, Samus attacks with an electrifying somersault; her Screw Attack. Mario was freefalling at this point, but he urges himself to land safely.

In the bleachers, all of his friends were watching. "Oh boy! Mario's never looked THIS good fighting before!" Vivian beams. "Heh, no kiddin', he's a fighting MACHINE!" Geno shouts; he's also getting excited about this fight. "Mario's gonna win, I know it!" Adelenn shouts, flailing her arms around in excitement.

Mario straightens himself in midair, and crashes upon Samus with a mighty Ground Pound! Samus flies off of the battlefield, as it looks as if she'll be ringed out, but she gets onto the battlefield easily with a Screw Attack. "Dodge this." Samus mutters. She kicks behind her to attack a very powerful item, known as a Smash Ball. It allows anyone to use one of their toughest abilities. "INITIATE. ZERO BEAM!" Samus yells.

"Oh snap." Mario groans to himself. Samus aims her Arm Cannon at Mario, and unleashes a powerful beam! "MAMA MIAAAAAAAAA!" Mario gets caught in the blast, which was causing some excruciating pain! The blast lasts for a good 5 seconds, and Mario is sent off!

The entire crowd gasps and falls silent when Mario doesn't get KO'ed. He's free falling, and below the stage. 'Come on, come on!' Mario quickly performs a double jump, and attacks Samus with his Super Jump Punch! The crowd goes wild again! "MA-RI-O! MA-RI-O! MA-RI-O!" They shout, encouraging Mario the best that they can.

Mario senses a Smash Ball right behind him, and breaks it with a single punch! "Oh, yeah! Let's do this!" Mario shouts. He pulls out his Blue Crystal Sun! Samus was confused, for this was not Mario's normal Final Smash. "FLASH FLOOD!" He screams into the Crystal Sun. Behind him, an enormous tidal wave comes crashing! It hits Samus with incredible force, and forces her out of the ring!

"IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A WINNER! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR MARIOOOOOOOO!" Glaae waddles his way to the battlefield, and raises Mario's fist up high! The crowds can be heard shouting, clapping and whistling! "Alright, kiddies! The next match will start in TWENTY minutes! See ya then!

"YEAH!" Mario's friends get in a group hug and laugh very happily. "Mario did it! Now we're one step closer to getting our Crystal Sun!" Adelenn states. "No kidding! At this rate, it's as good as ours!" Every slaps each other's hands to celebrate Mario's victory.

A FEW MINUTES LATER…

Mario exits the Warp Pipe he used to get into Final Destination, and finds himself in the Guild's main hall. There, he finds his friends, along with Link and Patricia. Geno, Vivian, Lupo and Adelenn all went up to him and hugged him tightly! They were all laughing with joy in their hearts! "Great job, Mario!" Geno nudges Mario's shoulder. "You sure showed her a thing or two!" Adelenn cries. "NICE!" Vivian and Lupo squeal.

Link and Patricia walk by to see Mario. "Wow, pretty good for a first match! We just talked to Samus, and she said that you've grown! Well, technically speaking, we ALL have, but you've shown major improvement, man! Great!" Link asserts with happiness. Both Mario and Link give each other a big high-five! "Thanks." Mario replies. Patricia studies Mario carefully.

"Well, you ARE as tough as Link says you are." She smirks. "I dunno how you'll do against… HIM though…" She says with a slight giggle. "But you're sure to make it in the decision match at this rate!"

"…Uh… who's 'him'?" Mario asks. "Oh. Uh, nobody. Just… hehe… realized he wasn't participating." She stammers. "You mean Fox?" Mario asks. "NO!" She yells. "Um, Pat, you can tell them if you wanna. It's not gonna hurt anyone… I hope." Link states, in an attempt to encourage Patricia. Then, he gulps. 'Aw, Deku Nuts. I can't get out of this one.' Link thinks.

"Well… Link and I… are… uh… best… friends?" Patricia stammers once again. "Oh come on, you can tell us that you guys like each other." Geno states with a smirk. 'GOT 'EM!' He shouts inside his head. "Well, yeah! We're unofficially married!" Link shouts.

Everyone's jaws dropped. "Unofficially? What do you mean by unofficially!?" Vivian asks. "Well, my cousin thought that I liked this other farm girl that I didn't like! Not to mention she was a snob to me ever since we met. But Patricia was a very nice person to me, and I like how she acts towards me." He says.

"Don't you mean she's your girlfriend?" Lupo laughs. "…What?" Link asks. Geno digs his face into his hand. "You can't be serious right now." He mutters. Adelenn nudges his shoulder. "Wait, what IS a girlfriend?" she asks.

Patricia touches her Helmet Siren and a huge block rams Geno from the side. "WHAT!?" He shouts. He falls on the floor, but gets back up instantly. "Knob-head. You're lucky you're right. Otherwise I'd pummel you." She growls angrily, but Geno merely laughs. "Oh ho ho! So you say!" He smirks back.

Suddenly, Link and Mario were gone. They could be seen leaving for the next match, which Link was participating in. "Well, time to go!" They all say, as they move to the bleachers again.

LATER…

This time, the crowd was bigger than the last time. This must've been a fight everyone was waiting for. It was so jam packed with people that it was insane. This match took place in the same area, and it looks like the same rules were at play. The floor was still iced, but obviously there were new contestants.

Glaae was back, and crazier than ever. "HEYOOOOOO! WE'RE BAAACK! AND THIS TIME, WE HAVE OUR NEXT FIGHTERS!" He shouts. "In this corner, we have a supreme galactic enforcer! He has a sweet ride, too! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR FOX!

The first fighter was a fox named Fox McCloud. He was skilled in Martial arts, since he was trained in his army. He has a blaster that is meant to injure opponents rather than blast them into oblivion.

"Do we even NEED to give this kid an intro!? LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR RETURNING CHAMP, LINK!" And there was Link, standing there as he waved toward the crowd; especially in Patricia's general direction. This made her blush. "He is just the SWEETEST, you know." She sighs. "Yeah. Say that again when he starts destroying Fox." Lupo asserts.

Link was completely calm, he didn't show much emotion, only a serious facial expression. He pulls out his Master Sword and his trusty Hylian Shield, an unbreakable shield with a fancy design. "If I know Link… he's gonna go EASY on Fox right now." Mario suspects. Mario knows that Link doesn't like going full out unless he has to. He thinks it as inhumane to do so, since he is easily capable of killing.

"THREE. TWO. ONE. FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!" Glaae initiates the battle, and so it begins!

Fox is the first to move, and immediately dashes towards Link. As he runs, he tries to shoot Link with his blaster! Link dodges each of the shots by jumping and deflecting with his sword. When Fox closes in, he starts using a windmill kick. Link gets hit, but it doesn't do much.

Link merely cracks his neck in response to the blow he took. "Nuh-uh. Not today." Link smirks, and begins to move. Fox couldn't believe what he was seeing. Or, what he wasn't seeing.

"HEYAAH!" Link began to jab at a speed that was unmatchable. Not only were they fast, THEY HURT. "Fox is getting creamed!" Adelenn screams. Geno was impressed once again. "That… is a real fighter, lemme tell you." He whispers to Adelenn. "I know, darling! It's amazing!" she replies.

Mario stands up to see the battle easier. "Wait… that's… Oh, COOL!" He says to himself. "He's going easy, and he's ALREADY topped his maximum attacking speed. Not only that, I can TELL he's gotten stronger. That's awesome!" He explains. Patricia stands up in a rage. "You BETTER ring him out for me!" she screams.

Apparently, Link perked up his ears. He heard Patricia, over the loud noise of the crowd. "Okay, babe! Here goes!" An instant later, Link performs a massive Spin Attack, and Fox gets ringed out! "LOOKS LIKE OUR WINNER IS LINK, FOLKS!" Glaae screams again, and raises Link's arm up high!

"Ma...Ma… Mia." Mario lets out. "This is gonna be the best fight I'll ever fight in my entire LIFE!" Mario shouts. His other friends are too busy screaming their lungs out from the fight. "Well, I'm glad they're enjoying the show." He smiles.

When all of his friends leave the arena, they meet up at the guild hall. They were all celebrating his great victory. Mario decided to join in! "THAT WAS AMAZING, LINK!" Vivian yells. "How did you attack so fast?" Lupo asks. "Pretty good for a human!" Adelenn says brightly. "No kidding." Geno agrees. "Great going, Link! You totally destroyed the competition!" Mario states, giving him a thorough high-five. "Thanks, but I didn't give it my all. I'm pretty sure you noticed, Mario. I could hear you talking about it." He replies to all of their complements. "It's okay, we know that it would've been dangerous if you did go all out." Mario replies with a frown, and pats his back.

Something else was off, though. Some of the guild members were looking at Link with surprisingly dirty looks. None of his guild friends were doing this, but nearly all of the others were. "What's their problem?" Mario asks. "Oh, don't mind them. Everyone thinks that I'm a complete monster. One time, I got in a fight with a whole bunch of people just because I kept winning the championship. I don't know who it was, though. It was in the middle of the night!"

"What… what did they do to you?" Mario asks in response. "Oh, nothing. I took care of them. They caught me off guard, so I went full out. I nearly killed them, though." Link frowns. "Well, we don't think you're a monster. I don't think your-"

"YOU WON!" Patricia comes in, running right into Link's arms. "That was AMAAAAZING! I can't believe that you won so quickly!" She states. "Well, with lots of training, it wasn't that bad."

"Oh, you! C'mere!" Patricia advances towards Link and hugs him tightly, and continues to increase her grip. "…You're not getting squeezed to death." She says disappointedly. "You suck." She states jokingly.

"Okay, guys. Let's go see K-"

A large rumbling occurred within the guild hall. It shook the entire building. It was like an earthquake! "Whoa… what was that?" Vivian asks.

Immediately, everyone decides to take out their weapons and take battle positions. "Wait, wasn't that just an earthquake? Why are you guys getting ready to fight?" Vivian was confused, and couldn't see why they were acting like this.

"Vivian… We're on a floating island high above our planet. Earthquakes CAN'T happen." Geno explains. He was right; earthquakes can't happen to such a small piece of land. It's too small to be shaken by earthquakes. "Either something's coming in… or something's moving around. And I have a slight feeling it's the latter." Lupo ponders.

Suddenly, the heroes, along with Link and Patricia, see Ike running towards them, with his blade at arms. "Yo, Link! I KNOW you felt that." He quickly shouts. "Yeah, I totally felt that. What's going on?" Link replies.

"I think that rumble that we just felt was from the basement."

"The basement? I thought that place was off limits. Master Hand told us NEVER to go down there, even in a dire emergency."

"Well yeah, it is off limits! But the tension felt very close to the basement. I think the perpetrator is in there. Normally I'd go in myself, but I don't wanna get my ear chewed off by Master Hand. How about you go down there? You're soul-bound to Super Smash Bros."

"Alright. You owe me some milk after this, ok?" Link finally gives up talking to Ike. "Come on guys, let's go check it out." He urges the heroes. They walk across the guild hall, and into the backroom of the bar. There, the heroes find a trapdoor. "Well, this is the basement. I heard that there is some really weird stuff in there. Sounds creeeee-py!" Link lightly laughs. However, Vivian was shaking wildly. "N-not funny! Not at all!" Vivian stammers. Next, they all walk into the basement together, one by one.

Link pulls out a small lantern from his Adventure Pouch, and lights a match. He throws the match into the lantern, and the lantern shines a bright light. "Always gotta be prepared for everything, even when it's not likely to happen." Link states. The basement was very dull. The walls were gray, and very damp from spilt drinks in the first floor. It was very large, but very empty as well.

What filled the room was a large rumbling. The very same rumbling that they felt before. "Whoa. Ike wasn't kidding when he felt the tension closer to here. "I get that feeling that… that whatever it is… it's hungry." Geno mutters.

The next thing that followed after the rumble… was not another rumble. It was the roaring of an animal. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" It roars. The roar was loud enough to cause another rumbling. "Definitely an animal! DEFINITELY an animal!" Lupo tries to whisper, but cannot maintain it.

The animal apparently hears Lupo. "…Rawr?" It sounds curious, as if it's wondering who's there. But there were other people there, too. "SHUT UP, YOU! Nobody's gonna come and save you, you little speck of dust!" it says.

"Shhh. Was that… another person?" Mario whispers. The voice was paired with another. "Hey, do you think anyone came down here or something? I heard that voice just a minute ago." The second voice says. "Quiet, Charles. Nobody's daring enough to come down here and save this worthless Typhlosion." The first voice asserts.

"But Haytham… It was close! If anyone finds him, Dee is going to be furious!" Charles says.

'Dee?' Mario thinks. He looks around a little bit, to find two Moblins (pig-like humanoids) guarding a Pokémon in a cage. It was definitely a Typhlosion, but the cage was not a normal cage. It was made out of titanium. The Moblins were armed with spears. They were indeed menacing, but not very bright.

"I got this, guys." Link states. He hands Mario his lantern, and walks up to the two lanterns. "Go get 'em, Link." Patricia whispers.

"Hey, you two! What are you doing with that Typhlosion, you monsters!?" Link shouts. This startles the two Moblins a little bit. "HEY, who's asking, little shrimp?" The Moblin named Charles asks.

"Well I am. Duh." Link replies. The two Moblins walk up to him, and easily tower him. "Looks like we've ourselves a fighter. Why don't you do this man a favor and lay him to rest, Charles?" Haytham hints. "AGREED." Charles yells. Next, he brings his spear behind him and swings with much strength.

But Link merely stops the spear with his hand. He smirks at the Moblin. "Hi, my name is Link. Nice to meet you." He says right before he clenches the spear and breaks it into several pieces.

"…That spear… broke…" Charles mutters. But before he could say anything else, Link thrusts his fist into the Moblin with full power. "Oh, that won't be the only thing that's broken when you're crying back to Ganondorf." Link replies. An instant later, he pulls out his sword and slices the Moblin vertically.

The Moblin just disappears into a puff of dark smoke. "Uh… I gotta go now, see ya." Haytham screams as he heads for the door.

But Link merely takes out his Longshot and grabs the Moblin. "Yoink." He says. "H-hey! Let me go!" Haytham shouts. "Not until you tell me why you have a Typhlosion locked up underneath our guild hall. Go on, speak up." Link smirks.

"Hey, you guys can come out now, I got him!" Link shouts. The other heroes follow behind to see Link grabbing a Moblin by the neck. "So… like to tell us what you were doing?" Link shouts angrily, and starts shaking the Moblin wildly. "Okay, okay! I'll tell you, you freak of nature!" He replies.

"So, we received orders from a guy named Dee. He was a Waddle Dee, but he was EXTREMELY powerful! We were no match for him, so we HAD to obey. He noticed that the Typhlosion we locked up was capable of memorizing any given conversation in a human language, and was able to draw it out perfectly! Dee told us to lock it up, and thus we did! There, I spilled the beans! Is there anything else you want!?"

"Boy, am I GLAD you have unlimited lives." Link growls. He throws the Moblin into the ground, and takes out a giant hammer. "Now go back to whence you came, before I have to do this again!"

"Uh oh." The Moblin says before disappearing from getting clobbered in the head with the hammer. Next, he breaks the cage the Typhlosion was locked in. He picks up the Typhlosion and places it on the ground. "Rawr?" The Typhlosion wonders.

"You're safe now, buddy! Nobody here is gonna try to harm you." He tells the Typhlosion. "Rawr!" The Typhlosion states happily.

"Wait, Dee? Who the heck is Dee?" Mario asks. "I dunno, maybe someone we haven't seen yet?" Lupo replies.

"We've only seen one Waddle Dee today, and that's Glaae. Do you think he's a suspect?" Patricia asks. "Probably, but we can't jump the gun. What if it isn't really him? Then we'll be the ones in trouble." Geno replies.

"Yeah, that's a good idea…" Vivian agrees. "What do you think, Adelenn?" Mario asks.

"I think it's adorable!" Adelenn replies. Turns out she was not tuned into the conversation at all, but to the Typhlosion instead. "Rawr Rawr… rwwwr…" The Typhlosion says when being petted by Adelenn. "Why would they lock up a cutey petuty like you? You're so nice, and sweet!" She says to the Typhlosion.

The Typhlosion actually responds to Adelenn's question. "Rwwwwwwr… Rawr Rwr Raaaawr." It says. Adelenn gasps. "They locked you up because you could draw!? Awww… that's sick! I hope nobody will try to do that again!"

Lupo's jaw dropped. "Wait… you KNOW what the Pokémon is saying, Adelenn? Neat!" She states. "What do you mean? Of course I know what he's saying. He's speaking in the same language as I am." Adelenn urges. "Wow. Adelenn has the ability to talk with animals. It's not very common." Vivian states while she records information in the Tattle Log. "But… all demons are capable of communication with animals. That's one of the reasons why their eye is sacrificed. I thought you knew that." Geno states.

"Shut up before I make you eat this book." Vivian shouts and start shaking her Tattle Log wildly as to threaten Geno. Geno merely smirks mischievously. "Anyway, we should make sure that this Typhlosion doesn't get into any more trouble." He states.

"YES! I'll name you RAWR! It's a perfect name for ya!" Adelenn shouts. Vivian turns around to look at Adelenn. "I thought we were supposed to keep it out of danger, not put it in more danger!" She yells.

"B-But he said he wanted to come with us." Adelenn starts to stammer. "I just want to let him come with us." Adelenn began frowning immediately and hugged the Typhlosion tightly. "Rwr." Typhlosion says.

"…You serious?" Lupo says. "Yeah, she's definitely serious." Link states. "Typhlosion doesn't want to be alone; he likes Adelenn's company. That's what he's saying." Link adjusts his tunic a little bit, and reaches for his Adventure Pouch. "There's no way YOU know what it's saying either!" Lupo states again. "Now I THINK I may have a Pokéball so that you guys can pretty much have it." He pulls out a Pokéball and hands it to Mario. "Thanks." He says in response. Mario then hands it to Adelenn. "YAY! Now I get to have a Pokémon!" Next, she puts away the Pokéball into her pocket and hugs the Typhlosion once more.

"…Aren't you supposed to catch him with the Pokéball?" Patricia asks. "Yeaaaah, but RAWR is scared of them. He doesn't wanna find out what's inside of one." Adelenn replies. "Rawr!" RAWR agrees.

"Alright, guys. We should get out of here. Don't wanna get yelled at by Master Hand." Link says jokingly.

MOMENTS LATER…

At the cafeteria, the heroes decided to take a rest. It was still raining, so they weren't really going anywhere. They take a table, and look at the tourney tree. "Alright! This is gonna be interesting. These are the round two matches. There's Mario versus Luigi, Captain Falcon vs. Kirby, and myself versus Donkey Kong! Hoo, this is gonna be a tough roster! Let's hope Fi and I can take DK down!" He shouts.

"Uh… Who's Fi?" Mario asks. He has never heard of a person named Fi. It's such an interesting name to him. "Well, believe it or not, Fi is the Master Sword." Patricia answers. This came as a surprise to all of the heroes. "Is that its official name? I never knew they gave human names to swords." Geno says. "Well technically, the Master Sword contains a spirit that is basically the power of the Master Sword itself." Link states.

"Cool. But let's get to more… important things." Vivian says, looking at RAWR. She notices that Adelenn is giving him food, but she doesn't know where it's coming from. "What… are you feeding it, Adelenn?" She asks. "I gave him some Ham!" She answers as if she was a Kindergartener. "So what I did was, I was gonna give it a piece of ham THIS big, but it was TOO big, so I decided to share with him!" She continues.

Geno falls silent and glares at her. "…Interesting." Lupo says. "I never thought that you would do that." Mario states. "COOL!" Link states. "When I was little, I'd used to do that with Malon! It was funny until we realized it wasn't very appropriate in public. It was hilarious! We did it in public, and some people thought that we were sick!" He laughs. Everyone else decides to laugh along with him. There, they talked the rest of the day away…

But not Glaae, who was watching them from the second floor. "They found that STUPID Pokemon! Those kids are gonna ruin me if they find out. I better figure out how to kill 'em off somehow!" He mutters to himself. "That Link boy has to go down quickly. Oh ho ho! He'll never know what's coming to him!" With this, He walks into the first floor, and goes into the giant door containing the Warp Pipes. He enters a Warp Pipe, and isn't seen for the rest of that day…

CHAPTER TEN END.


	12. 11: Devious Dee

Chapter Eleven: Devious Dee

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 29

The weather in the Super Smash Brothers Guild Hall always varies from time to time. It's so far from the ground below, nobody can ever tell what the weather will be like. Occasions like this give Rosalina lots of opportunities to mess with the weather.

Thus, it snows. Heavy snow falls upon the Guild Hall, giving it a winter holiday feel. It was quite a spectacular display of snowflakes gently falling upon the Guild Hall. They were all shapes and sizes, from the shapes of Mushrooms to the shapes of Hearts. It was indeed a spectacular sight.

Today, the Round Two matches would begin much later than usual, and for unexplained reasons. The only thing noted was that the arenas were closed until further notice. Most early birds like Link, Captain Falcon and Ike were the first to know this. "Huh." Ike says, slightly alarmed by this. "This doesn't usually happen, does it, Link?"

"Not really. With Master Hand, he makes sure everything is fixed before the tourneys begin. So, this is kind of upsetting." He replies to Ike. "Well, I gotta go wake up Mario and the crew, so why don't you guys wait for me he-"

"RAWR! GO USE FLAMETHROWER ON THE FLOATING WHITE THINGS!" Yells the distant voice of Adelenn.

"…Uh oh." Link peeps. In the distance, Link can see RAWR shooting a massive flame out through an open window. It was so hot that Link could feel it from where he was standing. "YAAAAAAAY!" Adelenn squeals and claps her hands together several times. "YOU DID IT! Now you can have some ham!" She yells in happiness, and feeds RAWR a piece of chewed-up ham. "Rawwr…" RAWR growls softly as he eats the ham. He then huddles next to Adelenn, and she gives him a hug in return.

"That Flamethrower was a Level 80 Blast! Impressive!" Link states. Luckily for Link, he didn't have to wake up Adelenn's friends. They all awakened by Adelenn and RAWR's yells. Everyone was already fully dressed, as well.

"Hey, what's going o-" Geno begins to say. He was interrupted by the sight of Adelenn's back. His eyes open wide as soon as he sees her back. "Oh… I forgot about… that…" He mutters. "Guys, take a look at Adelenn's back."

What Geno sees is also what everyone else sees. There is a big, black feathered wing coming out of Adelenn's back. The feathers emitted a strange, dark aura. It was a sign that Adelenn was growing her demon wings. Mario sees this and is just as surprised as Geno. "Mama Mia… sooner or later she'll be able to fly!" He says in response. "Whoa… That's insane." Lupo says, amazed with the wing that Adelenn has. "She looks like a one winged angel… but with black wings, and she's a Demon Child…" Vivian takes note of Adelenn's wing and records information in her Tattle Log. "Vivian, she's a Demon now. She's passed childhood." Geno says in monotone.

Adelenn notices her friends are right behind her. She turns around to greet them. "Oh hi, guys! Look at this thing that I got yesterday in my sleep." She extends and folds her black wing. "It looks like one of those things you see on a bird! Does that mean I'll be able to fly!?" She clasps her hands together and smiles brilliantly. "Yeah, I guess so. If you ever grow the other wing." Geno assures.

Geno turns around and looks down at the ground. 'She's already evolving into a Demon. At this rate, she could become Demon Lord within two or three months. And if this is the century of the new Demon Queen… she might even become that.' He ponders in his head.

"So, it's called a 'wing,' right? Well, if it's black, does that mean it's special? I heard that black is a rare color for feathers." Adelenn wonders. Geno turns around to answer her question. "Of course you're special! That's why you got such a rare feather color, no?" He gives her a little smirk. Adelenn proceeds to hug him in retaliation. "Aww, that's sweet! Thanks for the compliment!" She says happily. This makes Geno blush. "Not here, Adelenn." He grunts.

"Hey, you guys are awake! What's going on?" Link waves from the arena door. The other heroes spot him, and they feel the need to greet him. "So, it looks like we have our Round 2 Matches in about an hour. That's what this poster says." He points at the poster that he holds in his hands. Mario grabs the poster to look for himself. He studies it with much care.

Link turns around to see Adelenn's new wing, but doesn't think it was Adelenn at first. "Oh hey there, Pit. What's going on?" He asks, mistaking Adelenn for Pit, one of Link's friends from the Super Smash Bros. Guild. When he goes up to her, though, he realizes he was talking to Adelenn. "I don't remember you having a wing, Mrs. Geno." He says to her.

"Well, that's because it grew yesterday! But it did make kind of a mess in the room, though…" Adelenn mutters shyly. "Uh… If I may ask, what kind of mess?" Link asks politely. "This red stuff that went all OVER the bed. Smelled like bacon, which smells GOOD." She replies. Link gives her a confused look from her response; Adelenn gives him a light-hearted smile in return. "…Okay, Mrs. Geno. Whatever you say." Link replies back.

After a long silence, it was broken by a shout. "HEY!" Link shouts suddenly. "I just remembered something! Now, if I recall, Glaae told me that you can have two of your partners temporarily become Assist Trophies! Of course, if your brother collects an Assist Trophy, he'll have his own partners to fight with! Pretty neat, if you ask me."

"Great." Mario exclaims. He believes that he can use this opportunity to his advantage, but he can't decide which of his two friends will play the role of assist trophy. Whoever is the Assist Trophy will spawn in the middle of the battlefield and assist the one who summoned them for a short amount of time.

"So, who would like to be my assist trophies for today's match?" He asks his friends. Everybody immediately raises their hands. "I wanna be the one who helps people!" Adelenn squeals in excitement. "Hey, I got so much useful equipment! Pick me!" Lupo shouts. "I can help with magic!" Vivian says.

"YOU FOOLS. I AM COMPRISED OF THE MOST DEVASTATING MAGIC IN THE WORLD! PICK ME, AND I WILL BECOME YOUR GREATEST ALLY!" Geno says in a demonic voice. Everyone falls silent for a moment. Then, Vivian strikes him across the face with her hand. "What's your problem? Too awesome for you?" He laughs in response. Vivian growls at him, and he stops laughing.

"RAWR! RAW-RAWR!" RAWR shouts at Mario. "…I'm guessing he wants a shot at it as well? But he's gonna have to be summoned by Pokéball!" Mario says. When RAWR hears this, he backs away slowly. "I thought you didn't like those. Mama Mia, this is a tough decision. Who do I choose?" He ponders around for a while. There was silence for a moment, and with it, lots of determination and anxiety.

Mario smirks as he points towards Lupo and Vivian. "You two could use the training, right?" He explains with a smile.

"YES!" They both shout aloud with joy! "We are gonna be the BEST temporary assist trophies EVER!" Lupo squeals along with curling up in excitement. "Good choice, Mario." Vivian smiles. "We'll make you proud."

Adelenn and Geno look disappointed, but are overall happy for the other two. Geno takes another look at Adelenn's wing once more, and admires its sleek, raven black feathers. But more importantly, he studies the fact that her other wing didn't grow at all.

"Strange… Sorry for the sudden change of conversation, Adelenn, but your other wing should've grown the instant you grew that one. I read about it one time in a book. It was a special book called 'Demon Lore.' It was made by another Demon like yourself who lived fifty-thousand years ago." Geno explains. Adelenn looks at him carefully. "Really? Does that mean I'm different?" She asks with such an innocent voice that Geno is compelled to answer right away.

"Yes, you are. However, I believe it's for the better. As I said before, Demons CAN be good, but they share one specific trait. They are EXTREMELY aggressive. They snap very easily. This is usually what causes the… EVIL Demons. As powerful as I am, I still get the shivers from them. Luckily for you, you don't share this trait. Unfortunately I lack the reason as to why this is." He replies. "Nor the reason why you have one wing."

"Oh, okay!" Adelenn cheerfully gestures. "Will you grow wings one day like me? Then we can fly around together!" She asks. 'WHAT.' Geno shouts very loudly in his mind. He is thrown off guard by Adelenn's very odd question. But he was still compelled to answer. "Well, I can't grow wings. I wasn't granted wings when I was born. Sorry, I won't be able to fly around with you anytime soon." He mutters miserably.

"Weeeeeell, I have a wing, so maybe I can still carry you while we fly! Then, you can still fly with me, and we'd still have happy fun times!" Adelenn replies with a clap of her hands, and a very cheerful wink. "That's… pretty smart. Didn't think about that. Well then, once we're done opening the Thousand-Year Door, I gladly accept." Geno smiles. "Thanks." Adelenn smiles back, and quickly runs away giggling.

'What.' Geno thinks.

AN HOUR LATER…

It was time for the semi-finals to begin. Mario suits up and prepares to head into the next stage. Lupo and Vivian head to a different room where they prepare to be Assist Trophies. Adelenn, Geno and RAWR head to the bleachers to watch the next match. Luigi is by his side, ready to fight his brother. "Alright, bro. If either of us win, we can still get the grand prize together! Don't go easy on Weegee, okay?" Luigi states.

"Alright, Luigi. Letsa-go!"

"Okeydokey!"

A minute after, the Mario Brothers jump into the Warp Pipe that lead to their next battlefield.

Yoshi's Island.

Yoshi's Island is a large island populated by one of the most common creatures in Mario's world; the Yoshis. Yoshis from the Good Egg Galaxy migrated to this island, and their population grew over time. Long ago, these same Yoshis also helped Mario and Luigi as babies. They were almost kidnapped, but the Yoshis prevented this from happening. This is one of the main reasons they are here today.

This island will also be where they determine who the strongest brother is. Again, people from around the universe came to see this fight, and they were satisfied to see the Mario Brothers emerge from the Warp Pipe. The crowds were still phenomenal. There was so much shouting, cheering and whistling during their appearance, and the Mario Bros. merely wave their hands at the crowds.

Only seconds later, Glaae appears with his flying platform; microphone and all. "WELCOME BACK TO! SUPER! SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH BROTHERRRRRRRRRS!" He roars into the microphone, as usual. "INTRODUCING OUR SEMI-FINALISTS!"

"Our first is our favorite red hero, with them fancy overalls and that fancy mustache! You CANNOT mistake him for anyone else. LET'S HERE IT FOR MARIOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mario takes this as a cue to attract the crowd. "It's-a me, Mario!" Mario speaks his trademark quote. The audience grows wilder by the minute.

"Our other fighter is one that is VERY close to Mario! He is the Green Thunder! He is your Player Two! HE! IS! LUIGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" It's Luigi's cue to attract the crowd, and he does so just as well as Mario. "I'ma Luigi, Number One!" Luigi says. The two have an extremely high reputation amongst the other fighters at the Super Smash Brothers Guild Hall. It's no wonder that there are so many people watching them fight.

"Alright, you two! Here are the rules! Assist Trophies only! This will also be a one stock match! One KO and you're out! One of you will become one of the three finalists today! Make us proud, Mario Bros!" Glaae explains. The rules were fairly simple, like last time. The two brothers walk to each side of the battlefield, and prepare their fighting stances.

"Good Luck, bro." Says Mario.

"Good Luck, big bro." Says Luigi.

"THREE… TWO… ONE… FIIIGHT!" Glaae screams into the microphone. With this, the battle begins. The Mario Bros. both decide to play it safe and each of them take out their hammers. Surprisingly, Luigi also had a Mega Hammer. Mario had no time to admire, though. He was in the middle of a battle!

Soon enough, the brothers dash toward each other, and they swing their hammers! The hammers struck each other with equal force, and although it did nothing to either of the brothers, they sent shockwaves throughout the entire island.

"Good, Luigi! You're getting better, bro!" Mario compliments his green brother. "Same to you, big bro." Luigi compliments back. With this, they start hammering away at each other, each of their strikes matching each other. The strikes were incredibly fast, even though the hammers weighed a lot. All the crowd saw was fast motion; it was unbelievable. Regardless, the crowd shouts on.

Finally, Mario catches Luigi off guard and slams the hammer into Luigi's head, sending him skyward. This gives Mario the chance to jump up into the air and slam him into the ground for more damage. He tries to take this opportunity and leaps.

However, Luigi straightens himself mid-flight and hammers Mario into the ground instead, forcing him back onto the battlefield. He falls flat, and waits for Luigi to attempt to strike.

Luigi was too fast for Mario to notice, and Luigi ground pounds Mario into a wall. Mario starts spinning out of control, but manages to land on his feet, and sweep Luigi off of his with a clean kick. As Mario begins to attack Luigi with his hammer, Luigi gets up and grabs Mario. Luigi spins him around by the legs and throws him into the sky.

The audience is standing up now, looking at everything that's happening. Luigi starts to attack him in midair, dealing several body blows with his fists. He then sends Mario plummeting to the ground with a slam. Unbelievably, Mario gets up very easily. But this time, he looks around. 'I sensed an Assist Trophy nearby… so has Luigi. I can't let him get it, or else it's the end of me.' He thinks to himself.

Fortunately enough, it was right next to him. "Wahoo!" Mario shouts. He picks up the Assist Trophy and holds it high. He was hoping for any of his two friends to appear. And from the Assist Trophy spawned…

His cousin Lupo! "ALRIGHT, WHO'S READY FOR A HEAD SMASH!?" She roars. Mario beams with joy as he sees his cousin. "YES! Lupo, go attack Luigi!" Mario commands. "Okay, let's go!" She replies. She only has enough time to do damage for 10 seconds. Plenty of time. This gives Mario an idea.

First, he charges right into Mario, giving Lupo the chance to strike immediately after with Hammer Form of her Hamdraxel 1.3. Luigi becomes stunned for a moment. Next, Mario and Lupo continually strike at Luigi with flying fists. Luigi is still stunned, giving Lupo the chance to give the finishing blow. She gets ready to strike, with three seconds of her time left.

"BOOM!" She yells whilst punching. The Blooming Boom was successful, and Luigi is knocked out of bounds!

It was over. Mario's long battle with his brother ends with Mario as victorious! "IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE OUR WINNER, FOLKS! LET'S HEAR IT FOR MARIOOOOOOOOO!" Glaae raises Mario's hand up to show the crowd; the entire crowd went insane over this intense battle. Mario smiles at the audience and waves his free hand.

MOMENTS LATER…

After Mario exits the Warp Pipe, his friends are there to congratulate his epic victory, but not before he talks to his brother. "You tried your best, Luigi. I only got saved by the Assist Trophy. Don't feel too down about your loss." Mario explains. "Thanks, bro. I hope you win for me, then. I want that prize money so that we can get some cool stuff!" He says in response. He then walks back into his dorm.

"GREAT WORK, MARIO!" Vivian compliments. "That was a sick battle." Geno smirks. "That was neat-o, Mario!" Adelenn says.

"Thanks guys, but I couldn't have done it without Lupo." Mario replies. Lupo proceeds to give Mario a high-five. "THAT, WAS AWESOME." Lupo shouts with her eyes wide open. "No kidding. I wanted to fight in that!" Adelenn replies. "But now I'm hungry, and I wanna try to… try to…" Then, she zones out for a moment! "FOOD. MUST COOK MEAT." She says in monotone. She then runs towards the nearest refrigerator, and takes out a pack of Lon Lon Beef that's uncooked.

"Now… I heard that eggs taste good with this… I bet cooking isn't as bad as people say it is." Adelenn ponders. She then gets out a pack of eggs. She opens the package of beef, and gently places each egg on top of the meat. "Uh, Adelenn? I don't suggest you try that." Geno tries to persuade.

But it was too late. She opens her mouth and takes a giant bite out of the beef and raw eggs. All of her friends were in deep silence, eyes and jaws wide open. Adelenn continues to eat her "lunch" and swallows the piece of food.

"THEY WERE RIGHT. IT DOES TASTE GOOD WITH EGGS." Adelenn squeals, before eating the rest of it, eggs shells and all. "May the Overthere forbid it..." Mario says with concern. "But she might catch Yellow Virus from eating that food raw." Mario then proceeds to throw a Yellow Pill at her mouth, but fails miserably. "…Darn it." He shouts.

Geno clears his throat and nudges Mario lightly. "Mario, Demons are completely immune to Yellow Virus and Red Virus. She can eat meat raw. I'm not so sure about Blue Virus, though." He explains. Mario understands and continues to watch Adelenn scarf down the food. As she did so, her wing was extending and folding wildly, as if she was trying to fly with it.

Moments later, Link and Patricia are seen walking towards the Warp Pipe Room. Link's match with Donkey Kong is up next, and they couldn't wait to start it. "Saw the whole thing, Mario. Good match out there with your brother. I was getting a little tense from the excitement!" Link exclaims. "Yeah, TOO tense. He froze up like a statue!" Patricia laughs. "He gets waaaaaay too excited for these fights."

"But that's a good thing, because he's going to fight his next battle! Donkey Kong is up, and it's been a while since they last fought each other. Donkey Kong's dying for a rematch. But I know Link can take him on!" She continues. She then notices Adelenn eating the food that she "cooked" herself.

"Uh, what are you eating?" She asks. Adelenn looks around before saying anything. "Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I made the best thing ever. It's called BEEF…" She whispers. She looks around again. "…With EGGS. They taste so good, it's like a party in your belly. And the party is what I like to call… BUMPIN' DA RUMP. Like I said, don't tell ANYONE else about this." Patricia looks at Mario with a confused face, who puts on a confused face in return and shrugs.

"Well, we'll be watching Link. Don't disappoint." Mario finally says to Link, and waves to him as Link enters the Warp Pipe Room. "Alright guys, bleacher time." He commands, and everyone heads to the bleachers to watch him fight.

A FEW MINUTES LATER…

Yoshi's Island was used again, as it's the stage used for this month's semi-finals. From the Warp Pipe exited Link, and then Donkey Kong. The crowd was even wilder than last time, and Mario begins to wonder why.

"ALRIGHT, FOLKS!" Glaae starts again, and the heroes begin covering their ears. "We have our returning champ from the land of Hyrule, LIIIIIINK!" He points at Link and the audience starts to cheer. He waves his hands to attract the crowd.

Then, massive Donkey Kong steps in. Donkey Kong is a huge, brown haired gorilla, quite possibly an ape. He may not look it, but he's more intelligent than a normal gorilla or ape. He's also a powerhouse; he can take down enemies that are far bigger than himself. He likes to train in the jungle with Diddy Kong, his nephew.

Since he can't really talk well, he mostly waves his own hand, trying to steal Link's thunder. "AND, we have our favorite gorilla from the Kong Island! He likes to use Bongos, and of course he likes bananas! HERE! IS! DONKEY KOOOOOOONG!" Glaae screams again. The audience appears to have quite a taste for this battle. It's been too long for this rematch to begin, and Donkey Kong surely doesn't want to lose again.

"Okay, here are the rules!" Glaae shouts, but momentarily, he gives a soft chuckle, which only Link could hear above the rest of the crowd. "This will be a ONE Stock Match! You cannot use ANY weapons, at ALL. No swords, shields, Bob-Ombs, zappers, or anything else like that! This applies to EVERYONE. Good luck!" He states. Link gives him a nasty glare once he turns around to get out of the battlefield.

'I'm the one with all of that stuff! Donkey Kong usually fights with hand-to-hand combat. Master Hand says I could use them whenever I wanted… That's not fair.' He sighs. He tosses his sword and shield to the side, and prepares a fighting stance. This time, Glaae chuckles again. Link doesn't like the sound of it, and it annoys him slightly.

"That JERK!" Mario shouts from the bleachers. His friends look at him to see what the matter was. "Link is at his best when he has his Master Sword with him, even if he's not using it. If he doesn't have it, he feels awkward, and he can't fight as well." Mario states. Adelenn, Lupo and Vivian gasp. "That's sick. I can't tell why Glaae would try to handicap Link in such a way." Geno replies, studying Glaae further.

"THREE! TWO! ONE! GOOOOO!" The match begins so quickly, that neither Donkey Kong nor Link took time to react. Finally, the two both run into each other and begin fighting. Link was very uneasy with the fact that his Master Sword wasn't around him. This causes him to not gauge his attacks well.

With this, he actually uppercuts Donkey Kong at full power, causing him to skyrocket. Next, Link jumps up to send him into the ground, but his attack was incredibly weaker than his last, ultimately not doing much to Donkey Kong. Instead, Donkey Kong throws Link back at the ground. Link lands on his feet, and awaits Donkey Kong's next strike.

'Not good.' Link thinks. 'Why can't I fight so well without Fi?'

Meanwhile, in the background, Glaae was attempting to do something quite devious; steal Link's Master Sword. He quietly tiptoes behind, avoiding the fists that are flying everywhere. He catches a glimpse of the sword simply lying on the ground. "Bingo." He smirks. He tiptoes ever so closely to the sword. Then, he tries his luck and attempts to pick it up.

But he cannot. No matter how much strength he uses, it won't even budge. "What? Why can't I lift this stupid sword up!?" He struggles, but he just cannot move it. "Fine." He says to himself. We'll just have to play dirty." Next, Glaae climbs up to the top of the Island, which is several thousand feet up. He does so in mere seconds.

Meanwhile, the fight continues. Link was mostly avoiding attacks at this point, but he had to resort to guarding, which sometimes hurts his opponents. Donkey Kong pummels away at his arms, but Link's guard was nigh impenetrable. Even though Link wasn't fighting much, it was a losing fight for Donkey Kong. One more powerful attack from Link could ring Donkey Kong out.

Then, just as Link was about to retaliate with such a move, he stops dead in his tracks. Some yellow, sticky substance covered Link from top to bottom. Link struggles to get out, but he cannot. "I can't get out of this, so that only means one thing…" he says before sniffing the substance.

"It's CHU JELLY." He shouts. Chu Jelly is the one substance that Link has yet to master escaping from. Mario stands up in a rage when he sees this. "HEY! Someone's cheating! That's not a stage hazard at ALL!" He roars. Somehow, this caused the audience to start booing at this. Nobody can quite tell who's cheating though.

But unfortunately enough, Donkey Kong takes this as an advantage, and starts wailing on Link. Fist after fist flies into Link's face, building up his damage. They were indeed powerful. So powerful that Link was starting to get dizzy. Luckily, he was starting to pull himself together.

"Come on, come on!" He grinds his teeth. He tenses up a little bit, even with Donkey Kong still bashing at his skull. He shifts his feet, pulls his arms together, and releases! With this, Donkey Kong is knocked backward, and Link is free from the Yellow Chu Jelly's grip.

When this happens, the audience starts cheering again. Link was now back in the fray. "YES!" Geno, Mario, Luigi, Patricia and Adelenn all shout simultaneously. But little did they know that Link was furious. He tries his best not to show it, though. "No more games… You're going down." He mutters toward Donkey Kong Next, he walks towards Donkey Kong, who tries to attack him, but none of his attacks phase Link in the slightest.

Link continues to destroy the Smash Ball that appears right over Donkey Kong. In one clean kick, it shatters into many pieces. He grabs Donkey Kong by the neck, and throws him skyward. Link jumps up and uses his Final Smash…

Triforce Slash.

A beam of light travels through Link's left hand, and traps Donkey Kong in a pyramid of three triangles, which is the symbol of the Triforce. Normally, he would use his sword for this attack, but since he could not, he lashes out instead. Multiple strikes to Donkey Kong were made, and at blinding speeds. Donkey Kong had no hope of escaping from this as the Triforce barrier was keeping him from moving.

The audience would not dare to make a peep once this happened. They watch in awe as they see Link turn the tide of battle entirely. Hit after hit, they could see how painful it is; some of them even experienced it as they watched.

Finally, Link prepares the last attack. He takes a deep breath, and floats back a little bit. He pulls his arm back, and seconds later, he charges. His fist lands directly into Donkey Kong's face, and he's sent flying in the other direction. There was no chance that he could escape, and thus he was knocked out of bounds!

Even then, the entire audience was silenced. There was so much tension that none dared to speak.

But of course, they all went insane a few seconds after. All of them were shouting Link's name in celebration of his fabulous victory. Once he picks up his sword and shield, he is angry no longer, and he puts on a happy, innocent, smiling face. He also waves at the crowd.

All of a sudden, Glaae comes from atop and holds his hand high, not even trying to give him a victory speech. The audience cheers, cries, whistles and shouts for the young Hero of Time.

MOMENTS LATER…

Mario and Link pull each other aside for a moment to discuss about the battle. Strangely enough, Ike and Captain Falcon were there as well.

"What was that?" Mario asks. "That wasn't even supposed to be a type of stage hazard on Yoshi's Island. Much less so that it was Yellow Chu Jelly."

"I dunno, man. It was incredibly weird. It felt like someone was trying to aim it at me." Link suggests. "It also smelled very hot, as if someone had launched it out of a cannon. That's all I can say."

"A cannon, huh. This reeks of someone cheating. I just asked Donkey Kong about this, and he had no idea what happened. He was also very honest about it. He's off the list." Ike begins. "I was able to see where the shot came from. On Yoshi's Island, I could see the blast being shot at from one of the massive hilltops. Other than that, I don't know much else."

"All I know is that it couldn't have been any of us. The gang would NEVER do that; it was a solemn oath that we all swore on." Captain Falcon assumes. "I think that someone else was behind this. Nobody is physically allowed inside of the battlefield unless they are part of the stage hazards, fighters, or staff."

"I'm just wondering why they're trying to get rid of Link. I know he's one of the champions of Super Smash Brothers, but what kind of grudge would they have against him?" Mario asks with concern. Link looks down a little bit, realizing that someone else wanted him gone from existence. "Meh, it couldn't stop this machine." He says while pounding his chest. This makes the four laugh heartily.

"Oh, the finals! I forgot to tell you guys that I'm also in!" Captain Falcon states. "Wait, you WON against Kirby? How!?" Ike shouts, shocked at the news. "Well, He was at the edge, and I stunned him with a Deku Nut. It caught him by surprise. Then, I landed a Falcon Punch! I only won because he was close to the edge, that's all." Captain Falcon says. "I kinda felt bad that I won because of a cheap victory though."

"Well, it's been one heck of a day." Mario stretches. I'm going to see what my friends want to do. You can come along if you want to." All three of them look at Mario. They each look at him, and then back to their stomachs. "Hungry." Link states. "Yeah, hungry." Captain Falcon also states. "Hungry is an understatement." Ike states.

AN HOUR LATER…

Link, Ike, Captain Falcon, Mario and his friends all sat together again, and decided to eat some food. Most of them got Maxim Tomatoes again, but Adelenn decides to be unique (if you can call it that) and eats her favorite meal; Raw Lon Lon Beef with raw eggs. Everyone watches as she devours the enormous amount of food like a monster.

"Well, that's quite a feisty wife you got there, Geno." Ike laughs. Geno proceeds to stare at Ike. "Please don't." He replies as he continues to watch Adelenn eat. Then, she notices Geno staring at her. With her mouth full, she tries to say something, but it can't quite come out. She swallows her food and speaks again. "You want some? RAWR likes it. There's more than enough for the both of us." She asks politely. RAWR growls to back up Adelenn. "Sorry, but I can't. I'm not immune to Yellow Virus like you are."

"Yellow… Virus? Is that a monster?" She asks. "You can call it that. It's a tiny monster that tries to make you sick. There's also Red Virus and Blue Virus, which also try to make you sick. That's why we have the flu, fevers and other sicknesses." He explains.

"How do I beat it up? I'm dying to know!" Adelenn asks again. Geno smirks when hears this. "Well, if you were to heat up the beef for long enough, the Yellow Virus will burn away. For the eggs, you have to do the same with the inside only. The shell is not supposed to be edible." Geno says. Adelenn then takes a look at her food, and back to Geno.

"Can you beat up Yellow Virus so you can show me how to beat it up?" Adelenn asks. She hands Geno the piece of beef she was tearing on. "So, you take some of this stuff. This is called oil. It helps make the food cook better and gives it taste." He points at a bottle of vegetable oil. "You place this oil inside of this pan. Then you put the meat on the pan, and you let it cook."

Captain Falcon looks at Geno as if he had thrown a cat at the ceiling. "Thanks for the cooking lesson, Geno." Captain Falcon says blandly. "Sure helps me in the future." Ike states. "Knock it off, guys. He's trying to teach his wife how to cook." Link defends Geno. Then, he pauses for a slight moment, analyzing his sentence. "…Something sounds off about what I just said." He reassures.

But Adelenn was completely absorbed. "THAT. IS. AMAZING." She whispers. The whole table bursts laughing at this. Geno was quite amazed at how fast people have warmed up to them in the Super Smash Brothers Guild Hall. It's only been three days and people have been welcoming from the start. It's a great feeling to Geno.

That night, they talked and sung and ate, and drank some milk, too. It was certainly an enjoyable day for the heroes. Not much later, they decide to sleep for the night, and to get some rest. They all tucked in (and in the same way as last time) and fell asleep for the night…

CHAPTER ELEVEN END.


	13. 12: Staring Down Death

Chapter Twelve: Staring Down Death

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 30

The final day of the Tourney was at hand, and whoever is the champion of this tournament gets to collect the grand prize: The Crystal Sun (and some prize money, too). Even if Mario were to lose, he told Captain Falcon and Link about how he needs it for his adventure. So if ANY of the three win, Mario can get the Crystal Sun. Link and Captain Falcon DID owe him.

It was snowing again, and it was even more intense than the last time. The windows were all closed so that the blizzard wouldn't let any snow inside. Other than that, it was very warm inside the guild hall itself. Not many were awake at the time, but the ones that were awake were mostly eating.

It turns out Link was one of these people, along with Ike and Captain Falcon. "Alright, Doug. One of us has to win that match so that Mario can open the Door in the Sky Sanctum, right?" Link asks as he sips a cup of milk. "Right… we do owe him. But I'm not just gonna let him win, though. I am going to be the next champion of the Super Smash Bros." He shouts with pride.

"Ha, you wish." Ike laughs. "This is a match between you, Mario AND Link. You three are the top fighters in the guild, including myself. I have no idea how you'll make it with Link in the fray, though. Remember LAST time you fought him?"

"Yes, Ike. I do." Captain Falcon groans. "He blocked my Falcon Punch, and sent me flying with his stupid Spin Attack! It never fails at knocking someone out of bounds!" Link laughs heartily and pats him on the back. "It's not that it never fails; I'm just good with it." He says to cheer Captain Falcon up a little.

Little did they know that Adelenn was sitting right next to them, and on the same table as well. "How in the world?" Ike wonders. They notice that a small, rectangular device is in her hands. "Uh… Mrs. Geno, what are you doing?" Link asks.

"Oh hi!" Adelenn replies. "I just found this thing lying on the floor. It turns out I can interact with it! You can do stuff if you push these things that are sticking out of the block. Hehe, I'm making Mario and Luigi move around and jump!" She giggles.

"Oooooh." Ike says with interest. "She found a 3DS. I LOVE those things. My 3DS is in Red."

"Mine is in Purple, like my suit." Says Captain Falcon. "Oh, I got a gold one with the Triforce on it. It looks so cool." Link says. "Wait… what is she playing?" The three guys huddle up behind Adelenn to see that she's playing a very recent game called "Mario & Luigi: Dream Team."

"Wow! You got a lucky find there!" Link says. "I don't think I have this videogame yet!" Link looks at his friends to see if they have the same. They don't. "Uh… I want Mario to fight that thing. Go move him to it." Adelenn commands Link. "Okay." Link replies. 'YES! SCORE ONE FOR LINK!' Link thinks to himself. He gets comfortable and starts playing away!

A few minutes later, Mario and the rest of his friends wake up to find Adelenn sitting next to his other friends at the table. "Hey, what are you doing, Adelenn?" Geno asks her, almost as if he was angry, although it wasn't true. He's simply not a morning person, so his voice sounded with hostility.

"Hi, honey! We're just using this block to make Mario fight these bad guys. They're really mean." Adelenn snickers a little bit. Mario perches his head up. "Wait, who said my name? Why am I fighting bad guys?" He asks drowsily. He shakes his head a little to revitalize, and realize what's actually going on.

"Oh." Mario says. "Thank-a you so much for playing my game!" He gives Adelenn a thumbs-up. "Huh, so this is your latest game, Mario? Looks sweet!" Ike compliments. "I could seriously play this for hours." Captain Falcon says, absorbed into the game.

All of a sudden, a hatless Patricia whacks all three of the guys in the back of the head, including Link. Her frizzy bedhead gained more attention than herself while she was speaking. She also was not in her police uniform. "You guys should NOT be playing anything when the finals are about to begin." She groans. "Link, did you even brush your teeth before getting up?"

"Y-Yes, mo- uh, I mean, Pat. Totally." Link stutters. "Good. Now it starts in ten minutes. I'll be getting changed. Go get ready." She groans. She then walks back into Link's dorm with a very cranky attitude. "Cyborg women." Link sighs while drinking some more milk. "They can nag at you and turn your face inside out at the same time." Captain Falcon snickers at this along with Ike. "And now you know what it's like to have a girlfriend." Ike states with hearty laughter.

"But seriously, we should get ready for the finals. If I'm not getting the Crystal Sun, I at least want some prize money." Captain Falcon asserts. With this, the three finalists stand up. "Ooooh. RAWR, Mario's gonna fight soon!" Adelenn says to her pet Typhlosion. "Rwwwwr." RAWR growls happily. "Win, Win, WIN, Mario!" Adelenn cheers.

"Don't let us down now, Mario." Geno states. "We're counting on you." Vivian says. "Kick some tail out there." Says Lupo. "RAWR!" RAWR shouts. Mario gives back a small smirk. "Gee, thanks guys. I couldn't have gone this far without you guys." He replies. "It's time, guys. Let's go." Mario says to his other two friends. They nod happily and continue to walk to the Warp Pipe Room. They each enter the Warp Pipe to the final arena, one by one.

Seconds later, they were at their destination, Princess Peach's Castle. It was unmistakable, as a stained glass portrait of Princess Peach reveals itself in the front of the castle. It was beautiful, and surrounding the castle was a lakebed around the front. There were also many trees and wildlife within the area. It was a gorgeous yard.

"Wow, I LOVE these stained glass portraits." Link says. "So do I. It's really beautiful." Captain Falcon cracks a smile. "It's gonna be just the three of us, and only one can win. Good luck." Mario says. They all shake hands with each other, and take a position in the battlefield. Link takes the left side. Captain Falcon takes the right side. Mario takes the middle.

The audience was at it again. This time, it was even larger. The world's population was miniscule compared to this audience. It was bigger than any other tournament crowd in the universe. Not only that, and you have the viewers who are watching this battle on TV at the same moment. This was a battle everyone wanted to see. And today, they shall get that battle.

Glaae Seeon appears once again on his floating platform and microphone. "WELCOME BACK TO… SUPER! SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH BROTHERRRRRRRRRRRS! Today, we have our epic three-way showdown with the toughest heroes in the universe! I suggest you don't take these guys on if you want to live! FIRST, we have our amazing F-Zero Pilot, CAPTAIN FALCON!" He shouts. Captain Falcon attracts the crowd's attention momentarily by waving.

"Next, we have your favorite Plumber, MARIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mario's hands reach towards the sky to wave to the audience. "And last but DEFINITELY not least, we have our returning champion! LET'S HEAR IT FOR LINK!" Even Link waves towards the insane audience.

"Your rules are simple! All three of you have one stock! One KO, and you're as good as gone! Try and play it safe out there, kids." He states. Glaee and his moving platform move away from the castle to get a good view of the match. Each of the three fighters hold a position to prepare for battle. The tension becomes tighter; stress feels as if it is about to overcome, and all of their senses were heightened. This would be the greatest fight in the history of the Super Smash Brothers Guild.

"THREE!" The audience shouts along with Glaee.

"TWO!" The fighters become locked in their positions.

"ONE!" The crowd heats up!

"GO!" And so, the match begins! It starts off pretty slow; none of the fighters were attacking just yet. Mario pulls out his Mega Hammer and Link pulls out his Master Sword. They each look at each other carefully, waiting for each other to strike.

"We've made it this far, guys." Mario speaks. "After today, we'll celebrate with the whole gang with a nice, small party. Is that okay with you guys?" He doesn't release his guard.

"I'm up for it. Let's totally do that afterwards!" Captain Falcon agrees. He doesn't loosen his guard either.

"Awesome! It'd be nice to do that!" Link says in his near impenetrable guard. "So, you guys wanna start amazing the crowd now?"

"LET'S GO!" They all shout, and they begin to fight.

Mario's first target was Captain Falcon. Mario starts by swinging his Mega Hammer wildly at Captain Falcon, making him back up. While the captain was distracted by this, Link moves in front of Mario and attacks Captain Falcon with the Master Sword. Although the Captain took damage, he retaliates with his flurry of punches. Link gets sent into castle wall, but quickly recovers before he gets hit by it.

The Captain begins to assault Mario. "FALCON KICK!" He shouts. Captain Falcon unleashes a fiery kick in the shape of a falcon, and sweeps Mario off his feet. Captain Falcon grabs Mario by his overalls in an attempt to throw him. Mario counters by attacking his arm, and throwing the Captain instead.

Mario sends Captain Falcon into Link, who ducks before getting hit by the captain. Link goes straight for the captain again. This time, Link attacks by stabbing him several times with the Master Sword; the speeds were blinding, and Mario couldn't see them connect.

Link throws the captain into Mario, and as Mario is about to whack the captain with his hammer… "FALCON…" Captain Falcon shouts. "Uh oh." Mario mutters. Instead of using his hammer to attack, he blocks with it in an attempt to avoid getting hit out of the arena.

"PUNCH!" The Falcon Punch collides with his Mega Hammer, but Mario is completely safe from it. But right behind him was Link, who grabs Mario with his Longshot. Link jabs Mario in the face with such immense power, and Mario gets thrown into the captain.

"This fight is gonna be SWEET!" Adelenn squeals. "If Mario wins, I get to choose one thing that I want!" She bets. "Yeah… but we all got our money on Mario. Geno and Vivian want him to win, too." Lupo smirks. "Then… I BET MARIO WILL BEAT LINK!" Adelenn shouts while tightening up in her seat. "Haha, you're quite silly for a big, tough Demon." Lupo laughs heartily.

"Come on, Mario… You can do it." Geno says to himself, standing up to watch the fight. "Don't worry, Geno. He can do it. You believed in him when you first met, right? There's no way he'll lose now; he doesn't want to let us down." Vivian reassures Geno. "Well, if you say so." He replies, and relaxes back into his chair. "RAWR!" RAWR shouts. He's also excited by the fight.

Suddenly, Geno recalls Link's spiritual energy. "Wait a minute… Link has the same spiritual flow as Rosalina… and the same spiritual flow as all six of us. It's more noticeable when he fights. Does that mean that anyone with this same spiritual flow…" He talks to himself, and Vivian looks at him with worry. "Ah, it's nothing." He lies.

Meanwhile, the fight continues with Mario and Link sharing attacks with each other, swinging their powerful weapons at each other as to claim victory. They match blows quite evenly. All strikes land on each other's weapons. Mario was having trouble keeping up, though. Link was ultimately faster than Mario, and disarms him quickly. Mario rolls out of danger, and tosses Link towards the ground.

Mario then prepares to eliminate Captain Falcon, who's built up significant damage. He picks up an Assist Trophy nearby. "Come on out!" Mario shouts. The Assist Trophy breaks, and this time, Vivian appears. "Alright, Vivian. Do your thing!" Mario commands. "Got it!" Vivian replies. Vivian takes a short moment to charge a spell, one that nobody knew about.

She holds up her left hand and displays them like scissors. "Scatter Light!" She yells. Above her, a thundercloud appears, and it is about to release an enormous lightning bolt. However, once it comes down, it splits into two lightning strikes, hitting both Link and Captain Falcon at the same time. "YES!" Mario shouts, and Vivian disappears, as her time being Assist Trophy ends.

Captain Falcon was caught off guard by this, and is sent flying right towards Mario, who retaliates by throwing his Mega Hammer right into him! "UH OH." Captain Falcon yells. When he gets hit by the thrown hammer, he's sent skyward; so high that he ended up falling out of bounds! This was one of Mario's famous Star KO's!

"YES!" Mario cheers. "Now- all I have to deal with is Li-" But before he could even speak, he feels a massive force hit his head. Link has attacked Mario with his own Megaton Hammer. Mario is sent flying into the castle and feels a great impact upon touching it. Not only did it send him flying, it hurt greatly.

"Holy macaroni." Mario says, breathing heavily. Link puts away his Megaton Hammer and jumps over Mario. Then, he tosses a Maxim Tomato at Mario. "Wait, you're gonna help me right before you kick my butt?" Mario asks. "Well, yeah. I haven't taken much battle damage. I want this to be fun, not cheap." Link replies.

Mario can't help but smile. "Well, if that's how you want to fight, then let's do it." He says. Finally, he eats the Maxim Tomato, healing Mario from all of his battle damage. "Hoohoo! Now I REALLY feel super!" Mario exclaims. "Let's continue, shall we?" Link asks. "Yep. Let's-a go!" Mario hoots.

Not long after, fists are flying. Mario is relentlessly attacking Link with no stops, but Link is also matching his blows without feeling winded. However, instead of Mario pushing Link, Link is actually forcing Mario to move. "This is almost like that time in the Subspace Emissary, Mario! That was the first time you've beaten me." Link shouts above the sound of Mario attacking him. "But losing won't be my option."

For some reason, Link moves out of the way, and Mario attacks the thin air. This unbalances himself. Next, Link pulls out his Longshot and grabs Mario from across the stage. Link starts to slam Mario into the ground several times with the Longshot, as if he was a Morning Star, a type of ball-and-chain weapon. Finally, Link swings his sword at Mario and lets him go from the Longshot.

"Darn! Mario's losing! But I bet that Mario was gonna beat Link!" Adelenn points and urges Lupo to look. "I can tell that from here, Adelenn. This is not looking good for Mario. This Link guy is tough!" Lupo exclaims.

Geno begins to feel an immense anxiety and slams his hand into the chair. "I know that either way we get that Crystal Sun, but Mario's getting beat up badly! It's really stressing me out." He says. Vivian also appears stressed, that she actually stood up to see the fight happen. "Same here. I don't want Mario to lose!" Vivian shouts with worry. "RWWWWWWR…" RAWR growls slowly as he watches. He doesn't like where this fight is going.

Meanwhile, this fight continues, but it doesn't bode well for Mario. He's all worn out from fighting Link, but his spirit urges him to fight on. "Come on, there's gotta be at least ONE flaw in Link's fighting pattern…" He mutters to himself. "Oh no, I forgot. He HAS no fighting pattern. This is why he's so difficult to beat in the first place… I gotta lure him near the boundary. He's built enough damage to be smashed out of here."

Link advances towards Mario with his Master Sword out, making him look twice as intimidating as he usually looks. Mario attempts to block with his hammer. All the sword strikes hit the hammer, and Mario starts to attack back. Link blocks with his unbreakable shield, but Mario attacks him at the head! This causes Link to flinch, and Mario moves behind him. 'This is my chance!' Mario yells. 'But once I do this, Link will never fall for it again.' Then, Mario starts pummeling Link with the hammer at an incredible speed!

Then, Mario backs up to charge his attack, the one attack that will end the match. "BYE-BYE!" He shouts. As he's charging though, Link also charges his attack. "HEYAHHH!" Link shouts. When they both attack, they hit each other. The attacks ended up with both Link AND Mario being knocked out of bounds, at the exact same time!

"Sudden Death is about to happen. I can almost feel it." Geno mutters as he waits for the fighters to reappear.

Awkwardly enough, all three of the fighters reappear in front of Princess Peach's castle, rather than Link and Mario. Normally, Sudden Death would also occur between them. All of the audience was silenced. They knew something was wrong. Even Mario's friends knew something was wrong. "Wait. Sudden Death wasn't invoked." Patricia notices. "What's going on?"

"I LOST!?" Both Link and Mario shout at the same time. But soon after, they realize all three of the contestants were there. "Wait a minute… If you're here… and Captain Falcon's here…" Mario starts to wonder. "Someone's still containing us in this battlefield." Captain Falcon assumes. "Remember, we can't get out because of the barrier surrounding us, making us unable to interact with the audience. The Warp Pipe also hasn't appeared. We're stuck until Glaee or someone still inside the guild hall helps us out."

"So…who won, Doug?" Link asks. "I swore I lost."

"Are you kidding me, Link?! I thought I had lost!" Mario yells. "So… that means we both get the Crystal Sun and the prize money? Yay!" Link assumes. "I sure hope so." Mario replies.

"We gotta get them out of there!" Adelenn shouts. When she tries to go over to the battlefield, though, she's violently sent back into her seat. "It's no use, Adelenn. None of us have dispelling magic. We can't break the barrier that the Master Hand created himself." Geno says with an upset tone.

A few seconds later, they see Glaee on his floating platform. Captain Falcon and Link step back as Mario advances toward him. "Glaee, help us out here! Mario shouts towards Glaee. He jumps off of his floating platform, and right onto Peach's Castle. "Hey, you came to help us!" Captain Falcon says.

"No, I came to kill all three of you." Glaee snickers murderously, as he tries to throw a Bob-Omb right at Mario. Mario dodges in time to avoid getting exploded upon. The entire audience is shocked by this, and an uproar ensues. "NO!" Geno jumps out of his seat. "I KNEW IT! He was the one who locked up RAWR! HE'S the one that tried to cheat with Link!"

"Hahaha! You think that you were ACTUALLY going to win something as invaluable as a Crystal Sun!? No, no you can't. Because it belongs to ME and ME only! I want to be the one who opens that Door. Bringing you here would make my job so much easier once I kill you and rob you of your Crystal Suns." Glaee laughs.

"I am the third of Ten, and I represent so proudly! My name is Glaee Seeon, and I am the Death of Insanity. So insane that you thought you could just TAKE this Crystal Sun, so insane that you tried your hardest to make it to your doom. So insane that I could make you beg on your knees, and kill your friends that stand right before you." He says evilly.

"OH NO." Lupo yells. "He's one of the Ten Deaths!" Adelenn looks around and finds Glaee in the middle of Peach's Castle. "Yeah, he is! He's not lying, either! I've met him before when I was a baby. I couldn't remember him until now, though!" She says.

"That evil aura… He kept it hidden. Even I couldn't tell him apart from the rest. There's no doubt about it though; he's a Death!" Geno studies him carefully. "Geno, we can't just sit here! What can we do?" Vivian asks. "We watch, and learn. Mario can handle himself out there." Geno replies.

"So, who shall I kill first? The annoying purple one who wants everyone to show him their moves? Or the red one with the lip hair?" Glaee ponders. "Eh, Maybe I should just kill the green maggot over there, with the sword and shield. He'll be the easiest and most fun to kill. Hehe, he looks hopeless; he has a sloppy fighting style, and his attacks are meager. How does one even become the champion? Do you pay people to let you win? HA! He's only an insignificant wo-"

Next, Mario and Captain Falcon both slammed their hands into Glaee's gut. "YOU ABSOLUTE FOOL!" Captain Falcon and Mario shout with absolute hatred. Glaee was hit by such powerful attacks that he was forced to fall backwards and to the ground. Mario and Captain Falcon were furious. "He DID NOT just call our buddy a MAGGOT, did he!?" Captain Falcon yells at the top of his lungs. Glaee gets up, but slowly. "Ugh… hehehehe… yes I did… because he IS. Look at him! Look at YOU! You people look up to HIM? I'm so very disappointed in humans. Always making me want to murder them more, and more, AND MORE."

"Regardless, you DARED to insult him. Link, one of our best and most talented friends! He's one of the most respectable people in the world, and you go and disrespect him as if he was TRASH!" As Mario shouts, he slams his Mega Hammer into the ground.

"You don't call him that… and you DON'T call anyone else that horrid name!" Mario shouts. "We're the closest thing to family, you scumbag! You WILL pay for deceiving us! You will DEEPLY pay for betraying the Master Hand and abusing his power!" Link looks at Captain Falcon and Mario seriously, and understands their every motive. He knows how much those two care for their friends. He would act in the same manner if he was in their shoes.

"Oh? THIS is what I have to fight? A whole bunch of babies who care for their 'friends'?! I assure you that I will NOT kneel to losers such as yourselves, especially the green Boy Scout." Glaee laughs maniacally. When this happens, Mario steps up. His very footsteps were loud and hard, as if he was a giant.

"Big mistake. BIG. MISTAKE!" Without warning, Mario charges right towards an unsuspecting Glaee, and he goes flying right into the castle wall. "YOU WERE WARNED ONCE! YOU WERE WARNED… TWICE. YOU WILL NOT HARASS US AGAIN!" Mario is in a rage now. Glaee took this as an indication that he wants to fight Glaee. "Oh ho ho, so you want to fight me? Cute." Glaee says. When he's ready, his fighting stance is just like Kirby's.

'His technique appears to be similar to Kirby's. Simple stuff. I gotta watch out though; he might have his own tricks up his sleeves.' Mario thinks to himself. Fortunately enough, Glaee decides to attack first.

"SEE HOW YOU LIKE GETTING PUNCHED THROUGH A WALL!" Glaee laughs. He runs up incredibly fast towards Mario, and swipes at him with a very fast left hook. Mario blocks with his Mega Hammer, and continues to dodge each of the other jabs. 'Alright, he likes to use his hands a lot. He's not quite the kicker, either.' He notices. Glaee doesn't seem to kick, considering how he doesn't have legs; just feet. While still blocking, he backs up towards the wall, luring Glaee.

While Glaee attacks, Mario decides to grab Glaee by his arm. Glaee can't move at all when this happens. Mario then grabs Glaee's entire body and throws him at the castle wall again with immese power. Glaee was even thrown right through the castle walls. However, Glaee starts flying back out, and charges right at Mario with a head-butt. This sends Mario on the floor, but he gets back up quickly.

"But he sure is powerful." He says to himself. It looks like Glaee was getting even more upset. "Ooh… that felt good. But now it's time we get serious. Am I right?" He says. He smirks, and he disappears for a moment. "Wha!?" Mario shouts. "Captain, tag in! You're good with disappearing opponents!" Mario asks.

"Got it!" Captain Falcon shouts. Captain Falcon sprints as fast as he can to Mario's aid. They slap each other's hands as a sign that they swapped. "Smart move!" Geno states from the bleachers. "THAT'S teamwork! We should do that more often." Adelenn notices what they do as well. "Go get 'em, guys!" She yells happily!

"Show me ya moves!" Captain Falcon shouts at the air, hoping that Glaee will give up his position. Unfortunately, he doesn't until the last second, where he punches the captain from behind. Captain Falcon straightens himself, and waits for Glaee to attack again. When he does so, Captain Falcon grabs Glaee's arm right before he gets jabbed again. "YES!" Captain Falcon shouts. "Ugh, stop that! That's REALLY annoying!" Glaee screams at him. "No." Captain Falcon replies, and throws him into the air. When the captain jumps up to attack, he shouts, "FALCON KICK!" Captain Falcon unleashes a Falcon Kick and drives Glaee into the ground with insane power and accuracy.

Glaee was visibly damaged now. He has bruises all over his body from Mario and Captain Falcon. "Let's just end this here and now, shall we? I hate dawdling for too long." He pulls out the white Crystal Sun. "AVALANCHE!" He shouts at the top of his lungs. He raises the Crystal Sun high, and he focuses magic into it. Behind him was a horrifying sight.

A large snowstorm was approaching, but it was no normal snowstorm. It was beyond freezing. It was so cold, that once it hit the fighters, they all end up frozen.

"That's not good." Vivian states. "They're frozen. If that magic is really as powerful as it looks, the ice could be sucking their life force." Geno turns around to look at Vivian. "Ha, this is a REALLY old trick in the book." He gloats. "Mario and I have been attacked by this a million times! Mario won't die from it."

"There. Now you're all dead. I told you three that you could never defeat me." Glaee says. The instant later, he begins to laugh evilly; it was so spine-tingling that Lupo cringed when she heard it. "You think that's scary? I'm the Death of Fear! THAT'S NOT SCARY AT ALL!" Adelenn grinds her teeth angrily and shakes her balled-up fist.

Suddenly, all three break out of the ice at the same time, and with such ease as well. Glaee starts to turn around as he hears this. "Ah, so I see you three have combusted. That is such a sweet sou-"

His eyes open widely. "WHAT. IN. THE WORLD." He growls. "YOU ARE ALL SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD! WHY ARE YOU NOT DEAD!? WHY WHY WHY WHY, WHY!?" He begins to build a massive tantrum and begins to stomp the floor angrily.

"You're talking to three of the most powerful beings in the universe. The green one being THE strongest of us." Captain Falcon states. "Don't mess with anyone ever again, you savage." Link says with a deep, dark expression. "You are not welcome anymore. You will pay for those you've murdered in the past." Mario says.

"TIME TO GO!" They all shout. Mario holds up the Red Crystal Sun, Sunny Day, and boosts the strength of all three of the fighters. Next, Mario prepares a giant fireball with his hands, but it scatters. "OH YEAH!" Mario yells as he throws his arms in front of him. "HEEYAAAH!" Suddenly, a spiral of flames hits Glaee directly, and they burn with such grace and light. This is Mario Finale.

"WHAT!? WHERE DID YOU LEARN THIS!?" Glaee screams. He gets sent in the other direction, right in front of Captain Falcon. "Stop! You three don't want to do this! I can give you ANYTHING you want! JUST STOP!" He starts to reason with them.

Captain Falcon merely smirks. "Save it." Suddenly, a blue, hovering vehicle slams right into Glaee and sends him skyward! "COME ON, BLUE FALCON!" He calls his Blue Falcon, and rides it. A dazed Glaee is on the floor, and gets rammed again by the Blue Falcon. The force was intense, too much for Glaee to handle.

This time, it was Link who was in front of him. "No… Nononono… anyone but him… you can't let the maggot kill me! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN! NO! NO!" He started shouting intensely. Link simply pulls out his Master Sword. He walks towards Glaee in a very intimidating matter. It was freaking Glaee out.

Link doesn't say a word. He simply performs Triforce Slash.

This time, he has full use of his Master Sword. He traps Glaee in his Triforce barrier. Next, he slashes at Glaee with impossible speed, all without breaking a sweat. Glaee was doomed as soon as he was in that barrier.

Then, as he's about to unleash his final attack, the Ultimate Skyward Strike, he smirks at Mario and Captain Falcon. "Let's take him out together." He says while giving a thumbs up. They both join him in the final attack. When Link holds his sword skyward, it charges condensed, magical energy to be used for an attack.

Mario and Captain Falcon also charge their final attacks. Captain Falcon attempts to hold a massive Falcon Punch, made of the hottest flames. Mario was ready to strike with a flaming fist. Then, with a mighty flash, all three strike Glaee Seeon with their immense attacks!

"NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

Afterwards, there was total silence. Glaee Seeon disappears from existence. The heroes have done it. They have defeated the Death of Insanity, and all he leaves behind is the white Crystal Sun, Avalanche. The three fighters calm down, and they raise their arms up to the sky, claiming victory.

The audience roars with excitement after the long silence. The sound of cheering and whistling could be heard from every direction. The thrilling battle was over, and it ends with the three fighters being victorious.

"HE DID IT!" Geno shouts. "HE DID IT!" Adelenn also shouts, and hugs Geno as if he was a plush. Geno impulsively hugs back, and then he realizes what he was doing. "Oh, uh… sorry." He apologizes.

"SCORE THREE FOR TEAM MARIO!" Lupo yells with joy. She smiles and flashes a thumbs-up in the air. Vivian watches the three heroes with supreme happiness as well. "So… that's why he's Super Mario, huh? I never would've imagined that he'd be this strong." She ponders.

"This has been the most interesting three days of my life." Geno begins. "It's been jam packed with major butt-kicking and devious traps… and a Death. I can't believe that today, we would see three of the strongest beings in the universe band together to defeat a Death."

"Speaking of Deaths…" Geno looks at Adelenn. "I hope I don't put you on the spot, but… Adelenn, have you ever killed someone before?" He asks. "From what I've seen, all of them have attempted to except for you."

"Uh… no, not at all." She answers. "I've only been given the title of the Death of Fear after the last Death of Fear passed away and handed his title to me. I was trained by Fuego when I was this tall, but he never had me kill anything. He thought I was too weak to do it." She holds her hand at a certain distance to determine her height when she was a small child.

"Impossible." Geno grunts. "Mario says that you were way tougher than Fuego was by a hundred-fold." Geno crosses his arms in disapproval of Fuego's interpretation of Adelenn. "Weeeeell, he never knew that I was always training by myself when he was asleep. I always pretended I was weaker than him. That is… until I found you guys." She replies. "But anyway, let's go back and get that Crystal Sun!"

Mario picks up the Crystal Sun, and looks at it for a moment. "Oh yeah! Just what I needed!" Mario declares. "We did it; we got the Crystal Sun!" He holds it high in the air, and the audience cheers for them. "Good job, Mario; you too, Doug." Link smiles happily. "That was one of the best fights that we've had in a while." Captain Falcon also cracks a smile. "We should do this again sometime."

"Yeah, we should get back to the guild hall; Master Hand should be here soon." Link explains. "Alright, let's-a go." Mario cheers. As soon as he says this, a Warp Pipe appears from the ground. Mario nudges his towards it, and they all go in, one by one.

But before Captain Falcon enters… he thinks of something. "So are we still gonna have that party?"

CHAPTER TWELVE END.


	14. 13: Dinosaurs?

Chapter Thirteen: Dinosaurs!?

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 30

"Hmm… Master Hand should be here right now… I wonder where he could be." Ike ponders. It's been a whole two hours since the incident at Princess Peach's Castle. All of the members were in the guild hall, awaiting Master Hand's arrival.

"I still think Master Hand's a big, floating hand. That'd be awesome!" Adelenn squeals. Lupo merely sighs at this. "You know, if you paid attention to all of the pictures around this place, you'd know that by now." She says. When Adelenn looks around, she can see multiple pictures of a giant, white floating hand standing beside all of the guild members. "I KNEW IT!" Adelenn exclaims! "I knew it from the start!" She lets out a big smile with determined eyes.

"Maybe he's just waiting for someone to open the door for him." Link states. He gets up from his seat and casually walks towards the door. He opens the two giant doors right in front of him with little effort.

When he does though, a giant white fist greets him, and hits him directly. WHAM! "Eek!" Vivian shrieks, and latches on to Mario's arm by impulse. "Mama Mia!" Mario jumps up. The moment that he sees Link get hit makes him nervous.

Fortunately, Link didn't even budge, he just took the hit. The giant hand also stops dead in its tracks once it made contact with Link. "Hi, Master Hand." Link cheerfully exclaims. "Welcome back to Super Smash Bros."

Mario's friends took a moment to gaze at the Master Hand. He was indeed a white hand that appeared to be a long-sleeved glove. It disappears near the wrist area, though. He was one of the two founders of the Super Smash Brothers Guild Hall. The other being his brother, Crazy Hand. His name fits his personality perfectly; he's crazy.

"Where's Glaee? Where's the award ceremony? Why are you twelve just sitting around here, doing NOTHING?" Master Hand asks quite angrily. "I've literally been trying to get my brother to stop destroying abandoned houses for about three days, and you guys haven't done a thing? How disappointing." He assumes.

Link disagrees with him, however. "Well, that's not exactly true, Master Hand. We had just finished the tourney." He says. "Mario, come and do the honors of explaining what happened." He tells Mario. "Okey-dokey." Mario exclaims.

LATER…

It only takes Mario a couple of minutes to explain everything that happened. He told Master Hand everything; including how they captured RAWR and locked him up in the basement, and about how Glaee was a murderous Death of Insanity, and his plot to kill Captain Falcon, Link and himself. There was no champion at the end, so they decided to have a little party.

"Hmm… It all makes sense now." Master Hand says. "Why did I ever trust that fool to ensure the safety of my guild? That was completely senseless and rushed of me to do. I ended up putting the entire guild at risk, especially you three. Just because my brother was being stupid." He points towards Captain Falcon, Link and Mario.

"Next time I have to go away, I'll ensure that one of US is in charge, not some random hooligan. But thank you for not letting the guild get destroyed by that maniac." He compliments. "No problem!" Mario replies with a bright smile. Master Hand also gives him a thumbs-up.

Minutes later, everyone (especially Adelenn) was eating gourmet food and drinking some exotic and rare drinks. It was paired with lots of singing, and dancing as well. It was a small, but enjoyable party between Mario's friends. Even Adelenn was enjoying watching people dance. "Wow, these people like to move in a really weird way." Adelenn points at the people dancing. "It's called dancing, Adelenn." Geno replies. "It's something that people usually do in pairs. They do it for fun."

"You mean… something like this?" Adelenn gets up and starts to move her feet in a pattern. "Am I dancing yet?" She asks. "Yeah, something like that. Try moving faster." Geno replies.

Not only did she move to the beat faster, she also stomped harder. Her footsteps were powerful enough to dent the floor with each step. Luckily, nobody but Geno and Lupo took notice of this. "Oh my goodness, Adelenn." Lupo buries her face into her hands. "Keep going, Adelenn!" Geno cheers on Adelenn, and so she continues.

That is, until she stepped on her hair and slipped. Twice she flips forward into the air. Her face was the first thing to collide with the floor. The rest of her body followed shortly behind. Mario's eleven friends at Smash Bros. also notice this happening. "Uh oh." Vivian mutters.

But suddenly, Adelenn jumps up and starts laughing. Her wing also extends and relaxes at a fast rate. "WOAH, DANCING REALLY IS FUN!" She yells aloud. She then continues to 'dance' as if nothing had happened. "Wow, she can take a LOT of heavy abuse." Vivian wonders. "Rawr." RAWR agrees, but Vivian didn't know that.

After an hour of partying, the heroes had to leave; they needed to open that Thousand-Year Door to see what's inside. "Alright, guys. We have to go now." Mario says with disappointment. "We have a job to do, so we hope to see you all later!" Vivian waves. "Yeah! Call us if you want happy fun times!" Adelenn also waves. "She means goodbye." Geno says in response. "Rawwr!" RAWR growls happily. "See ya guys later!" Lupo shouts.

Mario's other eleven friends waved him goodbye. Link, Samus, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Jigglypuff, Ness, Fox, Pikachu, Luigi, Captain Falcon and Kirby all wave back at him, with the inclusion of Patricia.

"Go and get 'em, Mario! Don't let Bowser ruin your day!" Link gives him a thumbs up. Mario returns the favor and gives Link a thumbs up as well. The six heroes gather around the Platinum Exit Pipe. One by one, the heroes jump in.

A few seconds after, Link looks around. "Alright guys, I'm gonna be doing my usual thing. Just wander around and probably help Mario. I'll be in the Mushroom Kingdom for a while." He explains to his friends. "Hey, we're not going anywhere but home, ya hear? It's been a long day." Patricia stares at Link. He stares back.

"Come on, sweetheart. Let's go." Link suddenly grabs Patricia and places her on his back. "Hey! Let go of me, you! I'm not even ready to go anywhere yet!" She starts yelling at Link. "Then why do you have your police uniform on?" Link questions Patricia. "…No comment." Patricia replies. Link walks up towards the Platinum Exit Pipe, and stands on it while still holding Patricia.

"I am so gonna hurt you for this." Patricia growls. "Yeah, okay. You go ahead and do that." Link smirks in response. Then, he jumps in, following the heroes.

"I hope he'll be alright." Captain Falcon wonders. "Sure he'll be alright! He's Link! There's almost nothing Link can't handle." Ike replies. "Well, except that girl that he's with. And maybe his cousin, too." He laughs.

MINUTES LATER…

One by one, the heroes are shot right out of the Platinum Exit Pipe and onto Sky Sanctum. The place looked untouched, which was fortunate of them. Adelenn was the first to exit, and Geno the last. "So we're here again!" Adelenn says. "And everything looks as good as new! No bad guys or nothing, and lots of clouds to-"

Suddenly, Adelenn spots something. Something green. Something really SPIKY and green. "Hey, who's that over there?" Adelenn points right at the Thousand-Year Door. All of them turn around to see what she was talking about. "Uh oh." Mario groans. "That looks like… Bowser!"

Vivian and Lupo gasp. "Great, JUST great. How many times do we have to deal with this guy before he gets off our backs?" She mutters angrily. "Wait, who's Bowser?" Adelenn asks. Geno looks at her to answer. "Big, Green Koopa. Spiky. Deadly. Mean. King of all Koopas." Geno quickly explains. He gets into his fighting stance immediately after. "I'm gonna go say hi to him!" Adelenn states, completely ignorant of what Geno just said. "No, stop!" Geno commands, but is useless. Adelenn ran at immense speed to greet the King Koopa.

When she gets there, she stops. She puts her hands behind her back and tries to find a way to greet the Koopa. The Koopa was… a little small to be Bowser, though. He was nowhere near as big as she was. She bends down to the Koopa's height. While his back was turned, Adelenn began to speak.

"Hi!" She happily states.

She was greeted by the Koopa's fist. It was indeed VERY powerful, much more powerful than a normal Koopa could produce. It hit her right in her voided eye. "Get lost! I don' need anyone following me! I gotta do something for my papa, so get out of here before I hurt ya! The Koopa says.

It wasn't strong enough to make Adelenn budge, though. She didn't even flinch. "How are ya doing? It looks like you're REALLY mad." Adelenn says. "I'm Adelenn! What's your name?"

The Koopa dared not to move when this happens. "I-I'm Junior. Bowser Jr. Hi…?" He replies. Adelenn notices that he has a bib on; the bib has a menacing shark mouth on it. It looks as if a small child drew it.

"What are you doing for your papa, Bowser Junior?" Adelenn asks Bowser Jr. He then notices Mario and friends were right behind her. "If I told you, my papa would get upset. So I can't." He replies. "Probably some bad guy stuff that he wants to do to Mario. I don't know why he even wants to beat up Mario. He just tries to, and I'm usually involved."

"Well, if you say so. There's nothing over here, so you should probably go somewhere else. I heard that there was something sparkly and shiny over at the red building over there." She points towards a market. "It has this sun-shaped thingy in it. It looks like only bad guys can get in. You should go get your papa and go in there, okay?" Adelenn pats Bowser Jr. on the head. "Oh… okay." Bowser Jr. replies sadly. Then, he walks away, sneezing. His arms start to flail, then he stops. He gets on a Koopa Clown Kart and heads down from the Sky Sanctum.

"Well, that was easy." Mario compliments Adelenn. "Wait, we were trying to make him go away?" Adelenn asks. "OOOOOOOOH."

"Anyway, we should see if the Sun Door will activate with this White Crystal Sun." Lupo exclaims. The heroes listen, and begin to walk towards the Sun Door. When they reach it, they still become amazed by its size. They always have the urge to look up when they see it.

"Alright Mario," Vivian says. "Do your thing." Mario takes this cue and pulls out the Crystal Sun Avalanche. He holds it skyward, and points it at the Sun Door. "Come on… open!" Mario wishes.

A few seconds afterward, it makes the sound of a lock becoming unhinged from a door. Then, both of the doors open. "Awesome." Geno smiles. The heroes walk through the massive doors, and continue their journey through Sky Sanctum.

This time, they come across a room that was similar to the last. Only that there are several writings around the room. Some legible. Others illegible. "Great, more hieroglyphics for me to decode." Geno mumbles. "Raaaawr." RAWR growls, looking at Adelenn. "Yeah, you can go with him." Adelenn pats RAWR on the head and kisses his head, as well. "Raaaaaawr." RAWR replies, and starts to dash towards Geno.

"Rawr." RAWR stands on his hind legs and points at one of the Hieroglyphs. "Good eye, RAWR." Geno compliments. Geno takes a look at the Hieroglyphs carefully, studying them with precision and tons of effort.

"Huh… A race for power… a necessity for greed… a lust for godly powers… and the taste for souls…" he reads. "The Ten prophesized will kill whatever stands in their path to gain the ultimate powers of old. The Ten of Light will attempt to stop this act…" He tries to read the rest, but he cannot. They were completely illegible. "Ugh, stupid Heiroglyphs." Geno mutters angrily as he walks back to his friends.

"What did you find, Geno?" Mario asks. "Not much… we're looking at the possibility that there's another source of ultimate power behind this door. Something about… greed, and souls… That part I can't piece together." He replies.

"I think we may find more Hieroglyphics once we start getting Crystal Suns. Look at that over there." Vivian points at the middle of the room, in which the heroes find five identical pedestals sitting. They were all different colors as well. "This one's white." Lupo explains. "Maybe you should put the Crystal Sun we just got over here."

Mario instinctively thought the same thing, seeing how colors associate with a LOT of things in the Mushroom Kingdom. "Alright, here goes nothing."

As soon as he places it, a beam from the Crystal Sun shoots itself. "Oooh, shiny." Adelenn whispers to herself. The beam was concentrated, and condensed. It looks as if it might come back downward. "Vivian, Magical Map, please!" Mario asks. "You got it." She replies. She pulls out the Magical Map from her Tattle Log and throws it to Mario, who catches it flawlessly.

He unfolds the map and also holds it skyward. Soon enough, the beam of light hits the Magical Map as well. The map starts to glow, and then pulsate at a steady beat. Finally, light surrounds the entire room.

At the last moment, the light died down, allowing Mario to read the contents of the Map. Where would the next Crystal Sun be located? This is what the heroes find in the Magical Map.

The Crystal Sun was an emerald green, and it was cut almost exactly like the others. Its location on the map was on a remote island, isolated from the Mushroom Kingdom. There were some pictures of extinct animals near the island, indicating that it could have been inhabited by animals of long ago.

Except… They're still there today. "Dinosaur Land?" Mario asks. "Why would it be here?"

Dinosaur Land. Mario went there on vacation a time ago (yes, he likes to go outside a lot during his free time). The rumors about it were true; Dinosaurs still exist there. It's usually why nobody goes there. The most common dinosaur living in Dinosaur Land are the Yoshis. Yoshi's Island is a part of Dinosaur Land. Bowser once made a base of operations there, but Mario still triumphed over him.

"Cool. That's a neat little island to go to." Says a voice right in front of Mario.

"I know! It has all of these cool dinosaurs. This is gonna be the next place we g-"

He recognizes the voice. "L-Link?" Mario looks up. In front of him is a happy, smiling Link with very bright teeth. Also in front of him is a grumpy, frowning Patricia Wagon, ready to smack somebody. "Hi!" Link waves happily. "Hi." Patricia groans angrily.

"You… you followed us here… why?" Mario asks. "Just doing my own thing, so I decided to tag along. Is that okay?" Link asks. His happy, innocent smile really put Mario on the spot. 'Oh, Mama Mia! I hate rejecting requests from my close friends.' He thinks to himself.

"Sure, Link. You're always welcome to tag along!" Mario smiles back. "Cool, thanks! If you don't mind, I also brought Ms. Grumpy-Pants Wagon with me. She's really nice when she's not upset." Link pokes Patricia in the cheek twice. "You'll lose that finger, honeybunch." She growls. Link stops immediately.

"That's great! I've never had so many friends traveling with me before." Lupo exclaims. "It's nice for a change." Since Lupo didn't really have friends, all she really had was family that had forgotten about her, or never knew her existence.

"So, we gotta take care of the first problem. How do we get there?" Geno brings up. "We're going to need a vehicle of sorts; there are NO Warp Pipes in the Mushroom Kingdom that connect to Dinosaur Land. It's not possible to make one, either. It has its own Warp Pipe system, and interfering with it is… pretty chaotic." Mario says. "Even though Dinosaur Land isn't that far from the Mushroom Kingdom, we're not just gonna SWIM there."

"How about… we use a Banzai Bill Blaster?" Vivian asks them. "Rosalina has one."

"A Banzai what?" Patricia looks up, and no longer upset, but confused. "A Banzai Bill Blaster in our world is a huge cannon meant to shoot Banzai Bills, but can also launch people safely. It can shoot us at a pretty fast speed. If we aimed it at Dinosaur Island, we'll be there in no time.

"AWESOME!" Link shouts. "I've done something like that before. So, what about getting back?" He asks the red plumber.

"Same way. There's also a Banzai Bill Blaster on Yoshi's Island." Mario answers. "It's extremely heavy, so I'm gonna need your help to pick it up." He points at the Fountain Dome. "That's where it is."

"You hear that, Adelenn?" Geno glares behind him to try and speak to Adelenn. "We're gonna go to Dinosaur L-"

When Geno looks behind him, he sees a sleeping Adelenn on the floor, with her body completely extended, including her wing. Fortunately, she wasn't snoring. Geno then looks up at the sky, and notices that it was sunset. "Well, that explains one thing." He says to himself.

"…Maybe we should sleep for the night." Patricia states while looking at Adelenn. "Maybe? I WANNA sleep." Link replies. "You're the strongest person ever, but you're also the laziest person ever. How do you even function like that?" Patricia angrily knocks on Link's head. "I function because… milk gives me strong bones?" He tries to respond. Mario snickers quietly for a moment.

"Anyway, Link's right. We should probably sleep. Remember, Bandits have a habit of doing terrible things at night, especially around these parts." Geno says. Lupo and some of the others yawn when he says this. Today was comfortably warm, so they decided to get out some sleeping bags and sleep on the grass in the observatory. Geno picks up Adelenn and takes her to the Bedroom. He tucks her in and leaves without making a sound as to not disturb her. RAWR also walks inside the Bedroom to sleep right next to Adelenn.

"G'night, guys." Link says. "Good night." Everyone else says. And with this, the heroes all fall asleep…

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 1

Geno was the first to wake. Along with being the first to wake, he was also the first to be hungry. His stomach growled in seventeen different ways, signifying that he needed to eat. He looks around to see his other friends fast asleep, but they could wake at any moment. He takes this opportunity to see what he can do in the Kitchen.

There, he finds Rosalina, cooking something. She then turns around to see Geno standing at the entrance. He immediately bows. "Hello, Lady Rosalina." He says. "I apologize for taking advantage of your Observatory. We had nowhere else to stay."

"Why, it's alright with me, Geno. I knew of your presence, and your reasons. I assure you that you've done nothing wrong." She smiles. "In fact, I have been committing some time into cooking a meal for you and your friends. Something that is called… soup." Rosalina takes a large spoon and takes a sip of the soup. "It's ready. Why don't you kindly awaken your friends, so that they may eat?" She kindly asks the Star Road Guardian.

"I will, Lady Rosalina." He replies. He walks outside the Kitchen and goes up to the heroes that are still outside sleeping. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to wake them up. The smell of the soup woke them up.

"Mama Mia, that smells tasty." A drowsy Mario says, rubbing his sleepy eyes. Lupo and Vivian are also awoken by the smell. "Mmm, food." Lupo mutters. "Wow, I'm hungry." Vivian also mutters.

Suddenly, Link bounced up high in the air. "FOOD!" He cries aloud. He looks around to see where the smell is coming from. "Oooh, it smells like soup! I'm gonna go get myself some." He says as he walks towards the Kitchen.

Patricia wakes because of Link's chatter. "I think someone lied to me when they said you were a quiet individual." She says drowsily. She folds up her sleeping bag and gives it to Mario. "So, where's Adelenn?" She asks towards Geno. "Gee, I love how you assume that I know where she is." Geno glares at her. "Anyway, she's in the Bedroom. I couldn't just leave her lying on the floor. I'll go wake her up so that she can-"

"IT'S A LITTLE BABY!" The distant sound of Adelenn screams happily. "Oh please don't tell me she's suffocating a poor Luma." Geno says nervously. Mario laughs heartily. Geno runs to the Bedroom, and surely enough, Adelenn is hugging a Luma.

"Look, Geno! It's a floating star baby! He says his name is Lum." Adelenn says to him. 'Oh my lord.' Geno thinks to himself. "Adelenn, put him down carefully, please. You can't just be hugging every cute thing you see. And besides, food is ready. We're having soup." Geno says.

Geno also notices that Adelenn is wearing different clothes. Instead of her purple dress, she was wearing a small, yellow shirt and denim shorts. Her purpled dress was seen washing inside of a glass bowl filled with water. On her stomach and back, larger, and darker scars could be seen. It looked pretty gruesome.

When she heard the word "food," she put down the Green Luma almost immediately. "FOOD? WHERE?" Adelenn says in shock. She takes only the tiniest whiff to know where it was coming from. "It's at the red house, isn't it?" She asks. Geno simply nods, and she runs out of the Bedroom and into the Kitchen.

Later, all seven of the heroes, RAWR and Rosalina were eating delicious soup. It was full of exquisite flavor, and was overall enjoyable. It also had some healing qualities, which in turn allows the soup to double as medicine.

"Adelenn, who changed your clothes?" Patricia asks. "Hmm…" Adelenn pauses for a moment. "I think it was the Princess of Time and Space." Adelenn says, but she was completely asleep when she was changed; she had no idea. The others glare at her. "Uh… there's a Goddess of Time. Not so sure about a Princess of Time." Link says before slurping up the noodles in his soup.

"So, about that Banzai Bill Blaster…" Patricia begins. She's almost interrupted by the sound of Adelenn loudly slurping up her soup. "When do you want to start moving it?"

"No need to." Rosalina replies, as she gets Adelenn another bowl of soup. "Thank you!" Adelenn says aloud. Rosalina kindly smiles in return. "Young Lupo and I took care of that when you were asleep. It's ready for use." She looks at Lupo, who smiles in response. "Yup. Mario was right, though. It really was heavy." Lupo smirks, and scratches her head.

The others were quite happy about this turn of events. "Awesome. Now we can get that Crystal Sun in no time." Link says happily. He finishes his bowl of soup and washes it. "Remember, Link. We still have to find it IN Dinosaur Land. It's not going to be as easy as that." Vivian explains.

"I'm sure we'll find some clues, though. A Crystal Sun can never move without leaving a trace." Says Mario. "RAWR! Rawrwwrawr." RAWR happily growls at Adelenn. "Oh yeah! RAWR wants to see dinosaurs! The closest thing he's seen to dinosaurs are some dinosaur Pokémon." Adelenn translates for RAWR.

Minutes later, they are all finished eating. Almost all of them felt full (not Adelenn or Link, though). "Aaaah, that was good." Link smiles. "Now, let's go try us some cannons!" He tense up with excitement and his smile gets bigger. As the heroes walk to the cannon, Patricia drags him by the ear so that he would move. They hang around near the middle of the Observatory.

"So… where's the cannon?" Vivian puts her hands on her hips, as she sees nothing before her eyes. Clearly, she was disappointed. "Don't worry, don't worry." Lupo exclaims. "It's hidden under the ground." Lupo takes out a remote control, with a giant red button (how cliché) in the center. When she presses it, two giant, metal trapdoors open. Then, a platform from beneath the trapdoor rises. It contained the Banzai Bill Blaster.

It was enormous. It was a giant, black cannon that could easily fit a Banzai Bill. Holding up the cannon are large, steel girders that are also colored in black. There was a ladder on the side of the girder that allowed anyone to climb up to and down from the Banzai Bill Blaster.

"Whoa. It's biiiiig." Adelenn says. "You can say that again." Patricia responds. "Big looks like an understatement." Link says.

"So, this is what we're gonna be using to get to Dinosaur Land, huh?" Vivian looks up and down, studying the Banzai Bill Blaster. "…Is this safe?" She questions.

"Of COURSE it's not safe!" Link says happily. "That's what makes it so fun!" Patricia looks at Link with disappointment. "No wonder you're such a daredevil of a hero." Patricia mumbles. "No wonder you're such a tank of a cop." Link replies with sarcastic annoyance.

The heroes all climb up the Banzai Bill Blaster's girders and reach the cannon. Rosalina slowly flies up to watch them. She must be there to instruct the heroes.

"Friends, in order to use the Banzai Bill Blaster, you must be one with the cannon and press the button on the inside. There, you will become one with the cannon, and will be sent off to Dinosaur Land." Rosalina instructs. The heroes listen carefully.

There was indeed a button on the inside of the cannon. Mario leads everyone inside of the cannon, and they all huddle tightly. Once inside, Mario pushes the button. For a few seconds, nothing happens.

"Huh… nothing happened." Mario notices. He tries again. Nothing.

"Oh!" Rosalina remembers something. "The cannon is quite slow. It may be some time before it-"

Suddenly, the Cannon aims right at Dinosaur Land. It moves so quickly and suddenly that it shifts the heroes off balance. Then, it coils. "Uh oh." Lupo lets out.

Next, the Banzai Bill Blaster shoots out all of the heroes at an incredible speed, and right at their destination, as well.

Dinosaur Island.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN END

But wait! Something evil was afoot. In a base not far from the Cosmic Observatory, two Koopas of royal blood were eavesdropping on everything related to Dinosaur Land.

"Did you catch all of that, papa? They're going to Dinosaur Land." Says Bowser Jr. "Why would Mario want to go back over there?" Bowser Jr. was indeed very confused. He doesn't know what the relevance of the Crystal Suns were.

"Don't worry, son. You'll find out soon enough! BWAHAHA!" Bowser laughs. Bowser Jr. looks disappointed as this happens. 'Oh, papa, you're so obsessed with finding and destroying Mario! It's not like he's done anything to you.' He thinks to himself.

"Junior, go get Ludwig and Roy. They'll be assisting me in getting that Crystal Sun." He commands his son. "Yes, papa." Bowser Jr. says, and leaves the room immediately.

"When I get my hands on a Crystal Sun, I WILL beat him. No excuses! It's PERFECT!" He starts talking to himself, and he laughs evilly. This doesn't bode well for the heroes. Now, Bowser will be following them! Mario will have to be quick, or else Bowser may foil HIS plans!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN REALLY END


	15. 14: Non-Extinction

Chapter Fourteen: Non-Extinction

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 1

Many, many Yoshis on Yoshi's Island were happily doing whatever they wanted, and at their own leasure. Some of the Yoshis were eating fruit in the deeper parts of the forest. Others were playing with each other. Some were even reading books (?) out of pure enjoyment. All was well for these Yoshis.

That is, until eight heroes crash landed right onto Yoshi's Island. The sound of them hitting the ground filled the entire island, and also made a dent through the cold, hard ground. The Yoshis around the area were terrified, as they thought that someone was attacking their island. An uproar of Yoshis flailing around aimlessly ensues, but some of the braver Yoshis come to investigate.

"Yo-Yoshi! (Look, I think I found out what hit the Island!)" A Blue Yoshi says to a Yellow Yoshi right next to him. "Yo…shi? (Have we seen… who are these people?)" The Yellow Yoshi replies. These Yoshis appear to be natives; they still speak their own language rather than Mario's language.

They were indeed talking about the eight heroes of the Door in the Sky. Mario, Geno, and company had just landed in the heart of Yoshi's Island. "Why do we always end up on our faces?" Vivian groans as she gets up. So do the other heroes.

When Link gets up, he's greeted by a Black Yoshi that is very close to his face. "Whoa… uh, hi there." Link says to the Yoshi. "Yo Yo? (Who are you?)" The Black Yoshi says. "Huh?" Link is confused at first, but then his Hylian ears adjust to the language. "Oh… We're just stopping by. Hold on for a second, I gotta make sure my friends are alright.

When Mario gets up, his face is full of dirt. "Mama Mia… I just got cleaned yesterday… Oh well." Mario groans. Lupo also gets up and is covered in dirt. "I'm more surprised by the fact that I'm not dead rather than the fact that I'm dirty." She replies.

"Hmmm… Where's Adelenn and RAWR?" Patricia asks the crew. She looked around for a quick moment, and couldn't see them. "And an even bigger problem… where are we?"

The place that they fell in was a forest. The trees were thin, but there were plenty. They were small birch trees, and some are still growing. The ground was heavily populated with grass, and it was as lush as it was green. Along with there being lots of grass, there were lots of birds, Cheep Cheeps and Yoshis.

"We're right next to the Royal House of King Yoshi. We hit Yoshi's Island at around the center. If we can find the Royal House, we might be able to find the Crystal Sun." Geno explains. "But first, we need to find Adelenn and RAWR."

The other six heroes start to frantically search around the area they landed in, for hope that Adelenn was not far from the rest. "ADELENN! WHERE ARE YOOOU!?" Mario calls out. "RAWR! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Link shouts with his hands cupped to his mouth. The others continue to do the same thing, until they got a response.

About a minute later of calling, they hear the sound of a familiar Fire Pokémon. "Rrrrawr! RAWRAWR!" They hear the sound of RAWR growling. It was coming from the left of their impact site. "There they are!" Link's ears perch up. He has the best hearing out of the six of them, and was able to pick up RAWR's sounds. "There!" Link points to the left. Everyone knows that Link never messes up when it comes to hearing, so they instinctively follow him as he dashes to the left, passing all types of trees.

They were running for about a minute until they found RAWR barking all over the place. He must've been looking for Adelenn as well. "RAWR!" Lupo yells, and runs towards him. "What happened, buddy?"

"RAWR! Rwwwwwwr…" He growls, and looks at Link, hoping that he knew what he said. "He's saying that he can detect Adelenn's scent." Link translates. "He wants us to follow him!" Suddenly, RAWR starts dashing towards the denser part of the woods. The heroes follow closely behind.

They run until they find out that there are no more trees in their general direction. Instead, taking place of dense forest was a giant temple made out of wooden logs. Smoke was coming out of a stone chimney. There were mosaics of Yoshis all over the temple's front wall. It was definitely old, but it was still in use.

RAWR stops running for a moment and looks at the temple. "RAWR!" He points with his front legs. He can tell that Adelenn is inside of there. "Thanks, buddy." Vivian pets RAWR. "Now let's go in there!" Lupo shouts, and starts dashing towards the entrance.

But Link stops her dead in her tracks. "Wait… I hear some Yoshis talking… several of them…" He begins to focus on the Yoshis that he's hearing. "It sounds like… they're doing something. We have to get closer, but move quietly. We don't want to arouse any suspicion." He commands softly. With this, the heroes slowly tiptoe towards the front entrance to get a close look at what's going on. Mario, with his head near the wide entrance, peers through to see what's going on without being detected.

Mario can see quite a few Yoshis surrounding a stone tablet. On it was a conscious Adelenn, but she was just lying there. "Yo! Yo-Yoshi! (My friends! Tonight, we will sacrifice this child from the Underwhere, and send its soul into our powerful Crystal of Life!)" A green, crowned Yoshi exclaims. "Uh oh, that must be King Yoshi." Mario nervously mumbles. "I wonder what they're saying…"

"So are you going to give me something to eat? Is that why I'm one a table filled with bird meat?" Adelenn assumes that she'll be eating some food; this is her definition of the word "Sacrifice." "Shiiii! YOSHI! (My friends! Bring down the Axe of Eternity!)" King Yoshi exclaims.

"Fine, if you're not gonna show me the food, I'll just lay down here, close my eyes, and wait for you to drop it into my mouth." Adelenn says with disappointment, her arms crossed. The next thing that she does is exactly what she said she would do. "What is she doing in there?" Geno sighs loudly.

"I could only catch a few blips of what they said. Something about a soul, and a Crystal of Life." Link explains. "I think that's the Crystal Sun that we're looking for. These Yoshis just might have it." Mario tries to look around to see if he can spot the Crystal Sun, but from the angle that he was in, he couldn't.

But Patricia can see something that the others can't. They're about to bring down an axe down and kill Adelenn. "No!" She shouts. "They're about to kill Adelenn. Can we barge in NOW?"

"Don't even bother." Geno replies with a smirk. "If one of us has trouble fighting her, there's no way an axe is going to kill her from a mere Yoshi. Let's just see what happens." And so, they watch as Adelenn opens her mouth, still believing that food is awaiting her.

"Aaaah!" She sounds as she opens her mouth. Then, the Yoshis bring down the enormous axe down, and right at Adelenn's neck.

But Adelenn squirmed, and the axe landed in her jaws instead. As soon as she felt the sensation of something touching her teeth, her mouth instantly locks, and tries to chew the metal. She was completely capable of doing so, but once she chews the metal, she knows it's not food, and spits it out. "This is metal, not food! Did you guys drop the food and gave me the plate?" Adelenn continues to assume.

The Yoshis were in absolute shock, including King Yoshi. "Yo… Yoshi. (Well, friends… I think we're done here.)" Says King Yoshi to his friends.

"…Told you so." Geno smirks at Patricia, whose mouth was wide open. The other seven heroes walk in and get Adelenn out of the chains that surrounded her legs. "Hey! Stop that! It tickles!" Adelenn starts uncontrollably laughing due to Geno touching her sensitive feet. When he does so, she breaks the chain and gets off of the stone tablet.

"Hey!" Link starts shouting at the Yoshi. "Yo Yo! Yoshi! Yo-shi! (Why did you think it was okay to hurt our friend!? That wasn't cool at all! Explain yourselves!)" Link speaks in their own language, which came as a surprise to even Mario himself. Link even goes as far as to pull out his Master Sword. "Yo! Yoshi-shi! (Alright, Alright! We'll tell you as long as you don't hurt us!)" King Yoshi convinces Link as he cowers in fear.

Link sheathes the Master Sword and glares at King Yoshi. "Good." He grunts. Geno carries Adelenn off of the stone tablet, but not before she sticks a piece of raw turkey in her mouth and eats it.

"Yoshi Yoshi. Yo-shi. (About a month ago, we saw this Crystal of Life fall from the sky down into our temple. We believed that it was a sign from our guardians that we were to ensure it with our lives.)" King Yoshi explains. "Yoshi-Shi. (So then, we believed that it was powered through sacrifices, and so we sacrificed other animals.)" A Yellow Yoshi explains further, which is why the heroes can see other animals lying around.

"But then… why try to sacrifice Adelenn? She's definitely not a normal animal." Link ponders. King Yoshi has a nervous look on his face, but decides to divulge the information. "Yooo… Shi. (To tell you the truth… We were trying to sacrifice a more primitive species like the Demons.)" King Yoshi explains. Then, he looks at Adelenn, who is continuing to eat the raw birds on the stone tablet. RAWR joins her shortly after.

"Turns out they're not trying to stretch the truth. They needed something more primitive to sacrifice to the Crystal Sun that they recently found. Adelenn was their ideal subject." Link explains to the rest of the heroes. "But since they totally SUCK at decapitating Adelenn, they decided to leave it alone."

"I see…" Lupo replies. "Even so, they attempted to kill one of our friends. They have to pay the price for doing that!" Patricia yells angrily. Link smirks for a second when she says this. "Oh, don't worry, babe. They will." He replies back.

"YO! YO, YOSHI YO! (That Crystal you found! It does not belong to anyone, but it needs to remain in a certain place!)" Link shouts and points at the green Crystal Sun. "Yoshi! (We need it to uncover something potentially dangerous!)" He adds.

"Yo…? (Is that so…?)" A Blue Yoshi questions. "Yoshi Yo, Shi. (If you will leave us alone in the future, you may have it.)" King Yoshi explains. He gets up from his throne and waddles to the Crystal Sun. "Great! They're going to give us the Crystal Sun!" Link shouts. The other seven shout in harmonious joy. "YAY! Getting these things are gonna be easy as pie now!" Adelenn shrieks happily, and suddenly adapts a taste for pie.

King Yoshi grabs the Crystal Sun, and holds his arms out. Mario steps up to thank him. "Thank-a you so much!" Mario states.

But as he's about to grab the Crystal Sun… a blast of condensed energy hits both King Yoshi and Mario, separating them from the Crystal Sun. Instantly, Patricia takes out her Pellet Gun and aims it skyward. "HALT!" She yells at the top of her lungs. Geno also looks up to see what shot the two.

He saw nothing at first, but then, a capped figure jumps out through the hole that was blasted through the ceiling. He was short, and had stubby arms and legs. He had a funnel-shaped cap, just like Link, but it was blue, along with his robes. He also has a wand made of gold and contained a ruby gem in the rod.

"Is that a Magikoopa?" Geno stares him down with an evil glare. Magikoopas are one of the top elite troops of King Bowser. They utilize magic phenomenally, and they can master any type of magic.

The Magikoopa picks up the green Crystal Sun and laughs evilly. "Oh, BOY. Wait 'till Tarin gets a look at this beauty!" He says. He slips it into his pocket, and looks at the heroes, who have already prepared for battle.

"What are you guys looking at?" He says. They continue to glare him down, but especially Geno. He was focusing on the wavelength of his energy. What he finds was not surprising to him. "Guys… that's our next Death." He says.

"Oh, so I'm Dracula, and you guys are Simon Belmont, huh? Or maybe his children? Whatever, I hate this game of Castlevania." The Magikoopa snorts. "What does it matter, though? I'm still going to overthrow Bowser, and take this universe for myself. And if I can get all ten of these babies… it'd be sweeeeet."

This hit a nerve in Mario. "W-Whaa!? You want to overthrow Bowser!?" Mario shouts in shock. "B-but that's impossible! Nobody can take Bowser's throne away from him! It's never been done before!" He points.

"Too bad for you. If you want this thing so much, come to the Forest of Illusion. That's where Tarin will be, and that's where I wanna fi-"

"GHOST TACTIC FOUR! EXPLOSION!" Adelenn shrieks. Suddenly, Adelenn shouts five ghosts and a single Bomb Boo in a line attack the Magikoopa and explode with each contact. They knock the Magikoopa over.

"YOUR CHALLENGE IS ACCEPTED, YOU SON OF A MUTATED TURTLE!" Adelenn cries aloud with such fury. Her wing shoots right up. The Magikoopa gets up and looks at Adelenn for a second. So do the heroes, who look at her with shock. "Wait a minute… aren't you the…" The Magikoopa responds nervously. Then, he realizes something. "HAHA! So it was YOU that the white haired freak would always talk about. I'm impressed." He says.

"Don't you dare mention that name again… or else." Adelenn huffs and puffs angrily. Her eye was glowing red with absolute hatred. "Alright, fine. But since you accepted my challenge, I'm going to the Forest of Illusion. I'll meet you idiots there." The Magikoopa states before summoning a broom to let him fly. He flies out through the hole he created, and out of the view of the heroes.

"…What in the world was that, Adelenn?" Vivian asks her. Adelenn calms down a little bit, and looks at Vivian. "…I'll tell you." Adelenn whispers, and her single wing relaxes.

"…Tarin… is what you people call a pig. He's not a tasty pig at all. He's just a really disgusting, evil pig instead. He's a Demon, just like I am, but he's about three hundred and seventy five years older than I am. He's also a Demon Lord." Adelenn confesses.

Lupo's eyes opened wide. "A… A Demon LORD!?" Lupo asks with shock. "That's insane." Link says. "RWWWWR…" RAWR growls angrily. "That's not all. He has a certain liking to souls… he eats them like we eat food. He wants to eat the souls of fighters, especially. That's ONE of his plans. The other… Geno may not like so much." Geno looks at Adelenn with confusion. "…Continue." He tells her.

"I'm… I'm actually supposed to be… his wife." She whispers with her hands held together.

This sent confused messages towards everyone. Everyone was in such a shock at this unfortunate news. "No way…" Geno states. "It was forced. My former master Fuego wanted this to happen to me. He wanted to get rid of me. He thought I was a weakling, and he would rather let me rot. If he knew I could fight, he'd force me to battle in arenas for eternity. So instead, I was going to be sold off to a rich Demon family. That's where… TARIN… comes in."

"He's even worse than Fuego… he kills his slaves in gruesome ways, and for no obvious reasons. But to him, I was only slightly better. He says that he actually loves me for who I am, but I know that he only loves me for my body… so that's why he altered it."

Adelenn turns around, and lifts up the back of her shirt to show everyone a giant scar in the shape of a flame, the very same crest that is on her head. "He did… THAT, to you!?" Geno growls. "In all of my life, I've never seen such a disgusting act. And to think that you were forced to be with someone forever is… unsettling." Geno was clearly upset at the manifest of evil that is known as Tarin.

"Luckily, you guys freed me before the wedding could start." Adelenn finally cracks a smile. "And now I'm free to stay with you guys!"

"Yes you are." Patricia sighs in relief. "But no more outbreaks like that, okay? We have to get to the Forest of Illusion." Link tells her. "Okay!" Adelenn smiles happily once again, which gives everyone relief.

"So, Mario. You know the place better than we do… how do we get to the Forest of Illusion?" Link asks. Mario looks back at the small forest they have traveled through. "Technically, that's where Iggy's Castle is. He's a son of Bowser. There's a Warp Zone in that castle that will take us to the Forest of Illusion… but we have to be careful; the road is full of Bullet Bill Blasters that have been modified to shoot three times as fast." Mario states.

"Ah… the infamous N Zone. That's just great." Geno sighs. He's seen Mario in the N Zone before. It wasn't pretty. "Is that our only option? To go through the N Zone?" Vivian asks Mario. "…Yup." He answers. "Well, let's head over there now, so that we don't stall any further."

Seconds later, they reach a road of dirt that branches off into a massive canyon. The pits were filled with Bullet Bill Blasters. They were shooting at incredible speeds; almost as fast as Adelenn can run. "…Ghost Tactic Five… Copy." Adelenn whispers. Then, a swarm of ghosts surround Mario, and copy him. Then appears the Ghost Mario.

"Let's see if this guy can help us." Adelenn giggles, as she wiggles her fingers around to control the ghost. The ghost responds to these movements, from what Lupo can tell. The Ghost Mario walks up to the N Zone slowly, and carefully.

As soon as he steps in those boundaries, the Bullet Bill Blasters activate, and aim at Ghost Mario. One by one, they start shooting at immense speeds. Ghost Mario jumps and hops around frantically, to avoid being shot at.

"Go, guys! The blasters are distracted! They can't focus on more than one target." Adelenn loudly whispers. The heroes nod, and follow her lead.

Adelenn throws Patricia all the way to the other side of the N Zone, since she cannot jump as well as the rest of them. Geno and Lupo go first, and start jumping on some Bullet Bills; the Roc's Cape really helps Geno cross the chasms. A Banzai Bill at the end meets them, but Geno kicks it out the way before it explodes on them.

Vivian does not have legs, so she cannot jump. However, her body can extend so that she cannot fall. She simply glides across the chasm with no problems.

RAWR, on the other hand, leaps across several gaps, avoiding tons of Bullet Bills as he somewhat glides through the air (he can't glide). He passes by with no problems.

Mario decides to perform the Spin Bros; a maneuver that allows one or two people to glide through the air while deflecting objects at the same time. All Bullet Bills that hit him are sent in different directions. He makes it through safely.

Link decides to use two Longshots to grapple each Bullet Bill Blaster in succession, and without falling down the cliffs. Some bullets come his way, but he slices them open with the Master Sword without fail.

The last one left was Adelenn. "Come on, Adelenn! This way!" Patricia waves. Adelenn waves back while still controlling the ghosts. "Okaaaay!" She shouts back. She then ponders about a way to cross. "Hm… I can't control the ghost AND move at the same time…" She stops controlling the Ghost Mario, and the ghosts come back to her.

"Oooh, what about I do that thing that the purple suited man with the red helmet does? I think he goes something like… 'Falcon… Punch!'" Then, a small flame from Adelenn's hand appears, even though she was barely trying. "Cool! I can do it!" She says to herself.

Adelenn enters the N Zone, and prepares a fighting stance. She picks up her right hand. "FALCON…" She yells proudly, as condensed energy surrounds her fist. She bends her knees, and jumps high into the air. She takes a deep breath and shouts.

"…PUNCH!" Suddenly, Adelenn burst right through all of the Bullet Bill Blasters with her one, flaming fist. She flew right across the N Zone with a singular punch, which left the others in shock. All they saw behind her were destroyed Bullet Bill Blasters, but the Banzai Bill Blaster was left untouched.

Adelenn claps her hands with joy, and starts flapping her wing. "Awesome! I must be his cousin or something 'cause I CAN DO HIS MOVES!" She clenches her fist with pride. "Um, no. You two aren't related in the slightest." Mario says, disappointing Adelenn. "Awwww." She replies.

"…Now what? We made it past the N Zone." Patricia wonders. "Next… we gotta go through a lava river safely." Mario sighs. "We don't have any kind of way to cross the lava, either. All of the skull rafts were destroyed." Geno scouts ahead to see that there was a lava river, indeed. "He's not fibbing, guys. We better come up with something." He says.

"Hmm…" Link ponders. "My Longshot can reach, but not everyone can be on it. So how else can we get there…?" He takes a moment to think. Then, he looks at Adelenn and Vivian, the two magic users. "Hey… do you think that you two can make platforms across the lava river so that we can cross?" Link comes to a conclusion.

"…Maybe." Vivian answers. "I can produce ice, and we might be able to make ice floes cold enough to stay in the lava for an extended period of time." Link then looks at Adelenn. "Ooh! Ooh! I can, too! I learned ice magic when I was a baby!" Adelenn shouts happily. She then faces the Lava River. She points at it, and begins to speak. "Freezie Pops!" She sings. When she finishes the enchantment, a beam of energy comes from her finger, and pierces the lava.

Then, a straight line of ice floes appear. "Whoa… Cool." Vivian says in jealousy. She saw how powerful Adelenn's magic was, even though she uses one finger. "RAWRAWRAWRRR!" RAWR shouts happily. He was proud that Adelenn was able to perform such advanced magic with just a finger.

"Go on, guys! I'll meet you later! I wanna try something else." Adelenn whispers, and giggles afterward. The other seven follow her command, and travel through the ice floe. Mario is a bit nervous to step on the ice floes, but does so anyway.

To his surprise, they would hold up quite easily. "Well, that was not as bad as I thought it would be." He sighs in relief. "Come on, guys. It's safe." He calls his friends, and so they step on. Link decides to test it out for himself. "Interesting… Ice in Lava… I wonder how could it must be to be able to freeze portions of lava." He says without trying to break the ice. But no matter how hard he stomps the ice, it remains afloat and intact.

Patricia was getting fidgety, though. As a cyborg, she has trouble staying on shifty platforms without panicking. She tried pulling down her suit, but that proved to be useless. "C-Come on, guys… let's go before this thing shakes anymore." Patricia nervously whispers. "Alright then, Ms. I-don't-like-shifty-ice-floes. I'll carry you." Link replies with a smile, and sweeps Patricia off of her metal feet.

Geno and Lupo also get on the ice floes. So does RAWR and Vivian. "Ooooh, wouldn't I LOVE to have Adelenn's power for just a moment." Vivian scrunches up in excitement. "But you're not gonna love it for much longer. Look!" Lupo points behind the entire crew. They can see that the ice floes were slowly melting away from behind them. "Mama Mia! We better hurry!" Mario shouts. Once he gets a good foothold, he runs for the castle. So do the others. RAWR runs as fast as he can, while Geno glides through the air to avoid getting burnt up by the lava. Lupo also ran, but held Vivian's hand as well.

Link was delayed a little due to being captivated by Patricia as he slowly walks past each ice floe. "Can I say that you're the most beautiful person I've ever me-"

Of course, he get struck across the face for paying attention to the wrong thing. "Shut up and look at the ground ahead of you, not at my chest." Patricia growls and points forward. Link runs immediately, and makes it past the falling ice floes. They all fell, and everyone but Adelenn makes it across. "Come on, Adelenn! Make another ice floe so you can cross!" Mario shouts from across the lava river.

"I can walk there!" Adelenn exclaims. She dips her foot in the lava, which makes Mario pull his hat down in fear that Adelenn hurt herself. "She's gonna lose that foot!" Patricia shouts.

However, she doesn't even light up on fire. Adelenn is just fine. "YAY! Geno! Look at me! I'm swimming!" Adelenn says as she strokes through the lava as if it was water. "…How in the world did you…?" Geno questions. "Yes, I know you're immune to Red Virus… but to be completely unharmed by fire!? How in the world did you manage that?" Geno wonders. He's dying to get the information out of Adelenn, hoping she'll know something.

She doesn't. "Lots of muscly food that makes you stronger, and spicy food, too! Then, you can become invincible to fire!" She makes up. "…That's impossible, but I'll just agree with you." Geno gives up. "Now get over here."

In about a minute, Adelenn is finally at the other side of the lava river. "You are incredibly lucky that fire-related material doesn't even phase you." Mario compliments. "Thank you?" Adelenn asks in confusion. "Anyway… Welcome to Iggy's Castle." Mario turns around to look at the gray castle. "A dull, trap-filled Castle that wants nothing but your head on a silver platter. We better watch out around here… one wrong move could get us all in some serious trouble."

"Whoa…" Lupo says with interest. "I want to build something this big. I gotta do it sometime."

"Maybe later. But for now, we've got to get in here, and to the Forest of Illusion. You guys up for that?" Geno asks the crew.

"Readier than I'll ever be." Mario says.

"Let's go!" Vivian shouts.

"Yup! I wanna beat that Magikoopa to the ground!" Shouts Lupo with determination.

"RAWR!" RAWR roars.

"Yup!" Link nods.

"…I guess so." Patricia says, arms crossed.

"We're gonna kick the goo out of that guy!" Adelenn shoots her hand upward with determination. Geno likes what he sees. "Good." He smiles. "Now then, Mario… please lead the way." He looks at his red-capped friend.

"Okeydokey." He responds. To open the castle door, Mario looks around for a small, red switch around the massive, metal-plated gate. Once he presses it, the large gate is pulled by its massive chains, and it slowly rises up from the ground. Once it reaches the top, a loud clanking sound was heard by all the heroes, including RAWR.

It was dark inside. The heroes could not see anything inside of the castle. "…Was it always this dark?" Link asks, and is about to pull out his Lantern. "No… the torches light up on their own. We'll just go inside, and they'll illuminate the castle." Mario answers.

"…Let's go." Mario whispers, before heading into the dark castle. His friends follow shortly behind, and are swallowed by the darkness of Iggy's Castle…

CHAPTER FOURTEEN END.


	16. 15: Koopalings

Chapter Fifteen: Koopalings

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 1

Darkness filled the castle of Iggy Koopa. Silence was paired with the darkness. It was mystical, yet divine. It was an absolute experience that could not be merely mimicked by anything else. It was cool inside, refreshing, yet it gives off an evil wind, as if the darkest minds were at work, and trying to steal their very essences.

But then, the torches light themselves up in the presence of the eight heroes. Instead of darkness, there were stones covering the entire layout of the castle. Some floating, filling the wide gaps of the pits. Ahead of that are even deadlier traps, such as spikes, ball-and-chains, Bullet Bills, and more. Beyond all of that is the true goal at hand; the Warp Pipe to the Forest of Illusion.

"…Huh." Mario observes the castle, looking around and around, hands in his pocket. "All of the lava is gone from these pits. I wonder when that happened…" Mario shows concern on his face, which leads the others to believe that something is off. "Are you SURE there's lava here? We already passed through a plethora of it just a while ago." Geno asks, as he's never been into Iggy's Castle. "Yeah. It's unmistakable. There are lava marks all over the bricks down in that pit." Mario points at a block directly underneath them. The block was completely scorched, as if there was lava.

"Are you saying that nobody attends this place anymore?" Lupo asks. "Yeah. After I defeated Bowser here in Dinosaur Land, he and his Koopalings abandoned the entire place, leaving the automatic system to do its work. The only things that live in here are probably just Boos." Mario replies with his hands dug into his pockets.

"Boos are cute." Adelenn tells her friends. "Like this one right here." Link could notice that Adelenn was poking at a Boo that was nearby. The Boo was definitely uncomfortable, seeing as its face was completely red, and it was trying to disappear. However, nobody could see it except Adelenn, Mario and Link. "Uh... what are you doing?" Vivian asks. "I'm admiring this Boo right here! I'm gonna name her Booliet." She replies.

"H-hey! Get off of me!" The pink Boo commands. Adelenn stops immediately, and lets the Boo hover. "Okay, I give! What do you guys want!?" she demands that the heroes answer. She also reappears for some of the others.

"What the…?" Patricia wonders. "How come I couldn't see that Boo before? I have retina that displays invisible objects." Vivian turns around to Patricia to explain. "Well you see, Pat, Boos can only be seen by using an infrared scanner. That's why you can't see them with an ultraviolet scanner, which you might have in your retina." Vivian says. "…You do have a point. I need to tell HQ to fix that." Patricia reminds herself.

"Why's the lava not here? No matter what, it's always been on." Mario asks the pink Boo, who happens to be a female. "Ah… I think I can tell you. A while ago, I worked for Bowser. He killed me because I failed to stop an intruder. I had to feed my family, so I needed to work for him. I was told how to control the valves in the main boiler room, which control the lava flow." She explains.

"The boiler room is secured by locks that only Koopa Troopas can unlock. I used to be one that worked in the boiler room. If my speculations are correct… someone turned it off." She puts her arm to her face. Mario was quite surprised by this. "When was the last time the lava flow was here?" Geno asks. The Boo takes a moment to think about the question. "Hmm… A few moments ago. Why?" The Boo asks back to Geno.

"…Then that means we're being followed." Geno squints his eyes and looks around. Then, something catches his eye. Something gleaming, as if it was a sharp, point. When he looks at it directly, he can see several gleaming, sharp points. It's right above Adelenn. It was obscured by the shadows, making it hard to identify.

As he notices it, it drops at a tremendous rate, attempting to strike the Demon. "Adelenn! Right arm upward! NOW!" Geno commands. Adelenn pauses for a second, as if she didn't hear him. "Give it a second. It didn't come down yet." Adelenn ponders, and looks as if she zones out for a moment.

"ADELENN! GUARD!" Geno yells. A second later, Adelenn thrusts her right arm upwards to strike the falling object. "ACK!" A voice wheezes once she makes contact. Then, the object falls right beside Adelenn's legs. Then, it gets up immediately and starts attacking Adelenn with claws. They swipe at her furiously, and with terrific speed. Adelenn dodges each and everyone one of them, and counters the last one with a grab.

"W-Wha!?" The large figure states in shock, and tries to escape. But Adelenn's grip was deadly, and impossible to get out of. She then grabs the figure's other arm. It was helpless, as it was being overpowered easily by the young Demon. It tried to shake free, but couldn't escape.

She then closes in on the figure, and gets a better look at it. "…Who are you?" She asks in a dark, monotone voice, peering at the figure with her voided eye. She sees a Koopa Troopa. It was definitely a young adult, and wore a bright pink shell with spikes. Its head was also pink, and he sported glasses. It was a male, and he had two large snaggleteeth. He looks menacing enough, regardless of color.

"W-W-What are YOU!? Nobody has EVER challenged my strength before you! How are you so powerful, you monster!?" The Koopa stutters at Adelenn. He was terrified of her appearance. She looked like a human to him, but lacked an eye, and has a real wing attached. She then throws the Koopa away from her. "I'll ask again… who are you?" Adelenn grinds her teeth slowly, inciting fear in the Koopa. "I-I'm Roy! Roy Koopa! I'm a Koopaling of King Bowser!" He finally says.

"Why are you here?" Patricia exclaims firmly. The Koopaling steps back and nods his head. "I'm not telling you that! And even if I did, you can't get the info out of me! Only my brother kn-" He stumbles for a second, realizing that he had made a mistake.

A terrible one. "RAWR! Rawrawr… rrrrrrrwr." RAWR shouts at Adelenn. "Yeah, I think so too. If we beat him up, then he'll tell us where his brother is." Adelenn grins. She clenches her fist and looks at Patricia. "Patty, tag in!" Adelenn cheers. She steps back and lets Patricia Wagon step forward. "Alright! Time to get some exercise." Patricia blurts out as she stretches her arms. Her bones and metal prosthetics both crack due to tension, which relieves Patricia.

"I'll give you a chance to leave if you don't want to fight and just hand us the Intel." Patricia smirks. "Never! I won't back down to a fight! It's dishonorable to turn down a challenge if you are able to fight, regardless of age, or gender!" Roy Koopa growls, and begins by pulling out a magic wand. "Ha! With this baby, you can't defeat me!" He brags.

Once he swings the magic wand at Patricia, it releases purple flames at her with blazing speeds. She doesn't have time to dodge the attack, and takes all three directly. When she falls, Roy tries to flatten her with his massive foot. Patricia gets out of the way in time and backflips out of the way.

"Oh, so we're using weapons. Good." Patricia squints her eyes, and reaches for her thigh. There, she gets a hold on her Pellet Gun, and she pulls it out of her holster. Immediately she aims at the Koopaling. She configures the blaster so that the blasts would be non-lethal.

She starts by shooting three of her own blasts while advancing towards Roy. Roy deflects them with his own magic fireballs, but once he does so, Patricia has a chance to drop-kick Roy and send him flying into a wall. Patricia, while falling from the drop-kick, lands on her hands and pushes up, back on her feet.

Her next move is to continue running towards Roy. As she does so, Roy recovers and sends his own magical fireballs back at her. Patricia jumps over the first one and slides under the other two while sweeping Roy off his feet as well. She kicks off a wall, and backflips. In the air, she shoots a blast right at Roy.

It was an electrical blast, causing Roy to twitch on the ground from electrical currents. "Agigigigigigig," Roy utters as he's being electrocuted. "Hmph." Patricia winks at the Koopaling. "Had enough?" She asks as Roy gets up from the floor.

"NEVER, you witch!" He yells as he tries to charge right at Patricia. "Whoa!" Patricia gasps, as she crosses her arms to brace the attack. She gets pushed several feet from her standing point.

Right next to the spiked pit. When she looks behind, Patricia gets a good view of it. "Ack! I'm not so good with the spikey spikes!" She begins to panic, and flails her arms.

Luckily, she jumps out of the way; up and over the Koopaling. "Uh… hun? Tag in?" Patricia asks directly at Link. "Oh, me?" He asks. Next, Patricia continually dodges Roy's fireballs. "YES, YOU! WHO ELSE DO I CALL 'HUN' BUT YOU!?" She yells lividly. She jumps out of the way, and Link tags in.

He immediately pulls out the Master Sword. "Ooooh, Link's gonna fight!" Adelenn whispers to Geno, who smirks. "Link's gonna waste this guy." Geno replies, his arms crossed. The other heroes are waiting anxiously for Link to attack. He gets into a stance, and prepares for Roy to make the first strike.

"What is it with people sending the guy with the sword to handle everything?" Roy snorts. He then continues to throw a giant fireball at Link; it was twice his size. Link glares at it without interest. He puts down his sword and lets it hit him.

Once it makes contact, it snuffs out. "Hmm… I wonder when that attack is gonna hit me…" He says while he scratches his head. Roy tilts his head with shock. "E-e-eeeeeeeeh!?" Roy lets out. "How did you… WHAT!?"

"It's a pretty good spell, I'll give you that… but this tunic repels fire of any type." He tugs at his tunic while picking at his ear. "HEY! Don't you mock me! You make me look like a fool!" He starts to pout. Roy starts flailing his magic wand about, throwing several massive fireballs at Link's direction, and with blazing speed.

Most of them went Link's way. Still uninterested, Link swats away all of them with the Master Sword. The fireballs collide into other objects, and they start to fall into the spikey pits. "Interesting… Your method of attacking is intimidating, but very sloppy..." Link smirks. Then, he walks slowly towards the Koopaling.

"Don't you DARE think you can outmatch me, ROY KOOPA!" He roars proudly. He charges towards Link and tries to knock him off the cliff. Link sighs as Roy charges. He sticks his hand out and waits for Roy to make contact.

As soon as Roy charged right into Link's hand, he stops moving completely. "Grrrr… WHY WON'T YOU EVEN DODGE AN ATTACK!?" Roy roars with lividness. "I don't wanna." Link pretends to pout by crossing his arms. "Well then… try blocking THIS!"

Roy Koopa puts away his magic wand, and takes out an enormous Bullet Bill Blaster. It was fifty times bigger than a Banzai Bill Blaster. It has a giant skull on the side of the black cannon. This actually catches Link's attention. "What in the world is that?" Link looks at Mario nervously, who is bracing for impact, along with everyone else except Adelenn. "WATCH OUT! THAT'S A KING BILL BLASTER!" Mario warns the team.

Link's eyes glare back at the Koopaling. "If you shoot that in here, you can get us all killed! You know that, right!?" Vivian exclaims to Roy. "I don't care about that! I have seventeen more lives, anyway." He snickers maliciously. "But Mr. Tights here looks as if he has just one. So, TO THE UNDERWHERE WITH ALL OF YOU!"

He presses a button, and the King Bill is launched. The King Bill was a giant, creepily-smiling Bullet Bill that gazed at Mario and the crew. It was going to cream them all if Link didn't do something about it. "Link! Get serious right now!" Patricia yells at him. "…But I don't wanna." Link replies back. "Do it NOW!" She glares angrily. "No thank you." Link replies.

"If you don't do what I ask… no hugs for a week." Patricia persuades Link. "…" dead silence.

Link instantly raises the Master Sword to prepare a Skyward Strike, and his face becomes completely focused on the King Bill. "Alright, I got one shot at this! I can do it for Pat!" Link encourages himself. He raises the sword, and lets it charge with magical energy.

"HEYAAAH!" He screams, and as he swings the sword, a massive wave of purple light is released from his sword. It forces itself right through the advancing King Bill. Once it makes contact with the King Bill, it goes right through it, as cleanly as a knife through hot butter. Next, the King Bill splits in half as it rockets toward the heroes.

It stops mid-flight, and falls to the spikey floor, where it makes a minor explosion that can do no collateral damage. Roy Koopa was in such a fix that he decided not to move. "NICE JOB, LINK!" Adelenn giggles as she waves her arms to congratulate him.

"So… do I get my hugs now, or later?" Link smirks as he easily grabs Roy by the collar. "…Later, you doofus. My gosh, you can get so lovey-dovey at the wrong times." She says while looking away and blushing. "…Wow." Lupo says. "I wish I was that good at fighting."

A moment later, Link focuses back on the Koopaling. "So, where's your brother?" Link smiles happily as he tightens his grip on Roy. "Uh… um…" Roy stutters as he tries to answer him. "Please answer." Link mantains a happy answer. "How about NO!?" Roy yells angrily at the Hero of Time.

"Alright… Mrs. Geno, you do your thing since he's not going to speak to me." Link asks of Adelenn while keeping a toothy smile. When Roy hears of this, he starts flailing in panic. "Ohhhh no. Oh nononono! Not her! She's one of the vilest THINGS I've seen today!" He whimpers. "HEY! She's not a vile thing! She's a perfectly normal girl!" Geno takes offense easily.

"W-what kind of creature has a void like THAT!? Or a wing like THAT!?" Roy tries to reason. "ANYONE BUT HER! I'LL TALK!" After this, Link throws Roy onto the ground, and crouches down to his level. "Thank you, Mr. Koopaling. Now, I shall repeat myself-"

"Link, just get to the point." Patricia commands. "Alright, alright. Where's your brother? He knows why we're being followed… unless you know." Link asks Roy.

"Ack… I don't know… where he is… but he might be at the end of the castle… where the Warp… Pipe… izzzz…" Roy says before beginning to snore obnoxiously. "Did he just fall asleep on me?" Link looks at the crew while he points at himself. Vivian and Lupo giggle as this occurs.

"Such a snorefest, Link." Patricia grins. "…Hey, at least he told us where his brother is. Which I think is over there." He points ahead of the giant, spiked pit. "From what I could tell from hearing, there are a LOT of traps, flamethrowers, spikes and such. Somebody REALLY doesn't want us to get to the Forest of Illusion."

"That's not gonna stop us from getting to the forest." Mario firmly states. "We need to get that Crystal Sun, no matter what's ahead of us. Let's-a go!" Once Link makes sure Roy Koopa is actually sleeping, they head towards the spikey pit, and jump around the floating blocks.

The blocks seem to go increasingly higher, like a ladder of some sorts. As the heroes jump across, the road becomes even more treacherous. Now, automatic spikes were erecting from the blocks. The heroes were careful to not set off the traps by stepping heavily. Link wore Hover Boots to prevent this, and Adelenn was held by Geno to prevent her from activating the traps.

Later, the heroes come across an actual lava pit that was surrounded by many flamethrowers, and an open gondola was being guided back and forth this dangerous pit. "…How do people even get around this place safely?" Vivian asks with frustration. "The answer may surprise you… they don't." Link frowns. "I know out of pure experience. Ganondorf's minions also run into the same problem. But what can I say? They want their stuff well-fortified."

Link tilts his head to the right to avoid being impaled by an incoming spike from the left. "See? That one almost caught me right in the head. Pretty absurd, but useful." Link explains as Lupo breaks the spike with her Hamdraxel 1.3. "Be more careful next time, man." Lupo glares at him. He just shrugs as he advances towards the gondola, avoiding spikes that attack his head.

Adelenn was simply walking through the entire journey, even though her hands kept getting impaled by spikes. "You know… they should stop making traps that only hit your hands. It's annoying!" Adelenn says with frustration, balling up her bloody fists. "Geno! Can you pleeeease stop the bad spikes from hitting my hands?" Adelenn begs of Geno with such politeness. 'Ai, this woman can be quite a handful sometimes.' Geno thinks to himself.

"Sure thing, sweetheart. I'm on it." Geno replies with a sigh. Then, he continues to break any spikes that he sees with one, singular Geno Whirl. "There. No more spikes to impale your hands." He smiles. He is rewarded with a big, warm hug from Adelenn. "Thank you!" She states. This makes Geno blush. "U-Uh… you're welcome." He replies, trying to wipe the blood off of his cape.

A few minutes later. They arrive at the gondola. "You might want to stay low for this one." Mario explains once again. "The flamethrowers here REALLY hate people. If you crouch low enough, you can't get burned from them."

"What!? I can't hear you!" Adelenn shouts back at Mario as a flamethrower continually blasts her in the face with white-hot fire. "…Nothing, Adelenn." Mario replies. "Ah, it smells REALLY nice on this floating car! Almost like… bacon. Mmmmmmm, bacon…" Adelenn imagines a big bowl of bacon, ready to be eaten by her. But for now, she just bites her hand and starts to drool on it due to being so hungry.

MINUTES LATER…

After several minutes of riding an incredibly slow gondola, and avoiding flames, they meet the end of the line.

Well, literally. The line was chewed up and was about to lead right into the lava pit. Before the heroes fell in, they got off of the gondola, just in time. "Whew, that was a close one." Vivian states. "Seriously. One second later and we would've been roasted." Lupo looks at the lava pit below them as it completely eats up the gondola car, and lighting it on fire.

"Well, everyone except Adelenn, of course." Geno whispers, looking at the young Demon. "Huh? I heard my name." Adelenn looks around to see who said her name. "Hey! I found this thing on the floor!" She picks up a piece of paper on the floor. "Hmm… It has a lot of boxes, and pictures... I can't quite make it out." She reads off of the paper. Geno takes the paper and reads it carefully. "These are instructions. To what these instructions are for, I'm unsure of. The title is faded out. Thanks for the great find! Keep up the good work." He gives the paper back to Adelenn. "Hey, look! I found another paper!" She shouts again, and immediately gives it to Geno.

"…This is blank, Adelenn." Geno growls with an annoyed expression, as he lights it on fire with his bare hands. Adelenn blushes in embarrassment and looks away. "Uh… hehehe, silly Adelenn! Giving my darling Geno blank papers!" She makes up an excuse.

It only takes seconds for Link to realize that there really was nowhere else to go besides where they came from on a gondola going the opposite direction, and a large, dim hallway in front of them. "Quit goofing off for a moment… we've got something up ahead." Link squints. He cannot see through the dark hallway very easily, so he pulls out a lantern.

"…I can't detect any traps nearby… My senses of the ground are being completely blotted out. Be careful…" Link struggles to find anything odd about the structure of the building. Instead, he leads the group through the hallway, and looks everywhere to make sure that nothing was awry.

Suddenly, he hears something drop right above him. 'Dodge!' He urges himself, and backflips out of the way. The object lands into the ground, and creates a crater upon impact. Link immediately jerks his head towards the object. "Another Koopaling!?" He warns the others. "RAWR!" RAWR immediately growls.

"…Indeed, my enemies. I am." The figure replies. The heroes gasp. "Don't lose your guard, people!" Mario commands the heroes. When the smoke clears, they have a perfect view of the enemy. He was large, but not as big as Roy. He had a similar spiky shell, but it was blue rather than pink. His hair was the same hairstyle of a famous composer from a distant planet, but it was blue. He has one, large tooth in the center of his top jaw, and it was triangular. He too, has a magic wand.

"Welcome to my brother's castle, fools. And welcome to your graves. I am Ludwig von Koopa, son of King Bowser. Hmmhmmhmm…" The Koopaling chuckles lowly. "Ah, I see that there are eight of you… who to choose as my opponent? All of you look so pathetic…" He examines the heroes, one by one. "The green one I'll save for last… the red one looks unimportant… you!" He points directly at Lupo. "You look like fun."

"Keep talking, tubby. I'll have you know that I'm one of the members of the Mario family tree! You'll regret picking on a girl like me!" Lupo grins, as she punches her left hand as a means to intimidate Ludwig. He looks at her in disgust. "Ugh… you look like a common street rat. I'm sure that you're nothing compared to me."

"Well, then! I fought your father and won! How's that for ya!?" Lupo brags. This catches Ludwig's attention. "Are you saying that a rat like yourself defeated MY father? What a lie." He says in denial. When he says this, he pulls out his magic wand. "Lowlifes like you can't possibly withstand the power of the greatest Koopas ali-"

Suddenly, Lupo has Ludwig pinned to the wall of the hallway. She angrily frowns at him, and her grip increases significantly. "Hmph. Rich people and their stupid rich-person attitude! It makes me sick!" She growls. She then continues to throw Ludwig at the other wall with the velocity of a baseball. Ludwig smashes into the wall, causing some bricks to break easily. He gets back up in a flash, but is surprised at Lupo's power.

"Impressive. I didn't know that the street rats can become so powerful on their own without training." Ludwig ponders. "Hm… oh well. This just makes it more interesting for me to kick you into the dirt."

He flicks his magic wand just once, and several blue fireballs attack Lupo. They were very direct, and were charging at her with incredible speed. Lupo pulls out her Hamdraxel 1.3 out with ease, and sets it to Shovel Form. With the shovel, she redirects some fireballs in numerous directions, and blocks the rest. She closes in quickly, and changes the Hamdraxel 1.3 into Drill Form, a powerful drill that can turn even the most durable cement blocks into dust. She takes the drill and impales the wall with it, causing it to rumble as it spun around. This makes bricks from the ceiling fall down, and Ludwig gets hit by several of them in the forehead.

However, it doesn't do much. "Is that all you have? My, you ARE the scum that I took you to be." Ludwig laughs. Mario growls in frustration, and desperately wants to help Lupo, but since it is her fight, she cannot. "Go kick him in the tush, Loopy Lupo!" Adelenn kiddingly encourages Lupo.

Lupo smiles. "I will!" She pulls down her worker hat. Next, Ludwig shoots more fireballs at Lupo, but she dodges all of them while advancing. She leaps high into the air, and immediately drops her drill onto Ludwig. Ludwig dodges in time to shoot more fireballs.

'His method is pretty simple. There's not much strategy in his fighting.' Lupo thinks to herself. She believes to have figured out how Ludwig attacks, and smiles when learning so. She blocks the following fireballs with her drill, and advances towards Ludwig.

When she strikes Ludwig, though, a puff of smoke appeared, and Ludwig disappeared. "What?" Lupo looks around. She can't see Ludwig anywhere, and has no idea as to what he's done. "Keep on your guard, Lupo." Link commands sternly. "He used a doppelganger to fool you. Don't let him catch you by surprise!"

But it was too late for Lupo. She was attacked by several fireballs from behind, scorching her back and forcing her to fall. "Owowowow-OW!" She mumbles, trying to roll over to snuff out the flames. But then, she gets struck across the face with the Koopaling's fist. More fist fly right into her face.

"Pathetic. You were putting up a good fight until now." He brags as he continues to punch Lupo. "For a filthy street rat… you're above average."

"LUPO!" Vivian shouts, and tries to run to her aid. But Mario stops her. "Not yet… she's not seriously injured. Let's see what happens next." Mario grins, and lowers his cap. "Lupo! Bend his arms a LITTLE bit." Mario shouts.

When Lupo hears this, she grabs Ludwig's arms. She holds him until she gets up. "Ngh! Hey! Let go of me, scum!" Ludwig tries to fight off Lupo, but fails to. Lupo's eyes are covered by her hard hat, but grins. "So, how does it feel to have a 'street rat' bend your arms?" She asks him.

"…It's never going to happen. You're too weak." Ludwig responds. Lupo frowns when she hears this.

"Mistake one. Calling me weak." She continues by bending his arm in such an awkward way, but it was painful. Then, she forces it even more, and causes his left arm to break. "AARGH! YOU COLD WITCH!" He screams in agony. She then forces the other arm to break. "Mistake two. Calling me by the wrong occupation. I'm not a witch. I construct buildings." He yells in agony once more, and drops his magic wand.

"…Alright, then. Where's the Pipe to the Forest of Illusion? Otherwise your legs are next." Lupo smiles cheerfully. Whimpering, and with his broken limb, he points at the end of the hallway, where a red and white door resides. He then passes out, and falls asleep.

"…I think he'll be fine." Link pokes at Ludwig's broken arm. Patricia drags him away from Ludwig. "Don't. I'm already upset that you didn't even give it your all with that Roy Koopa." She mumbles. "But if I did… It would be no fair. Although it would be REALLY fun." Link smiles with joy, and slaps Patricia on the shoulder. "Wanna duke it out with me?" He asks politely. Immediately she backs away. "As if!" Patricia huffs, and looks away.

"We have bigger problems, though…" Vivian whispers. "Those instructions that Geno has… seem to match up with what we have right in front of us." She points towards the red and white door. "…Well then. I guess we can go now!" Adelenn happily skips along towards the door, and tries to push it open.

Of course, it wouldn't open at first. "…Awwww, the bathroom is locked." Adelenn moans with disappointment. "I bet they're cleaning up the floor with those wet towel thingies."

"…This isn't a bathroom, Adelenn." Geno sighs. "BUT I GOTTA GO BAAAAAAD!" She starts to make a false dance, trying to hold it in as best as she can. Link rolls on the floor instantly with laughter. Mario laughs along with him. Lupo and Vivian just looked at the two with despicable expressions. "Rwwr?" RAWR questions Adelenn. "Yeah, RAWR. It's THAT bad!" Adelenn's face tightens, as she continues to make craters on the floor with her feet.

Geno starts to get nervous. "A-alright, Adelenn. I'm sure we can figure out how to open this door soon enough. J-just wait for about a minute, and then we can open this d-"

"TOO MUCH TIME FOR THAT!" She finally snaps and punches the doors with such immense strength. The doors easily pop open, and it splits into several pieces. "MAMA MIA!" Mario holds his cap down to prevent getting hit by the debris.

"O-okay! Time to sing! Adeleeeeeen gonna get to a bathroooom… Theeeeen Adelenn will be freeeeeee… from this eternal torture… OF BATHROOM PAAAAAAAAIN…" She silently sings to herself while looking for a stall. "…You should've went before we headed out." Patricia warns her. Link just glares at her, though. "…Oh come on. You NEVER have to go to the bathroom." Link says, knowing that cyborgs don't USUALLY have to use such a bathroom.

"…This is gonna be bad. Alright guys, we better get into that Warp Pipe before Adelenn lets it all… out…" He says with shame. The instant after, Adelenn gives Geno a massive bear hug, and holds him. "Oh Geno, I hope you can help prevent me from using the bathroom all over the floor! I'm gonna hold you tight so that I can think of other things like Sleepy Sheep and Eevees." Adelenn closes her eyes tightly as she slowly suffocates Geno. "ACK. STOP. ADELENN." Geno lets out while gasping for air (which he doesn't even need) and flailing his arms.

"Well you heard the man. Let's go into the Warp Pipe. Then we can make a pit stop in the forest so that Adelenn can relieve herself of the bathroom pain." Link encourages Adelenn. "YAAAAY!" Adelenn cheers while still holding Geno like a doll. She jumps right onto the Warp Pipe and enters it. Link and Patricia follow right behind her.

"Have you noticed that our most used mode of transportation are these Warp Pipes?" Vivian notes. "Yeah, I've noticed. But it's for the better, so I can't blame them." Mario agrees. He escorts his cousin and Vivian to the Warp Pipe, and they enter.

The only two left were Mario and RAWR. "Alright, RAWR. Let's go before they get lost." Mario tells RAWR. "Rawr." RAWR replies happily. RAWR dashes towards the Warp Pipe, and waits for Mario to hop on with him. When he does so, they slowly enter the Warp Pipe, and are sent off into the Forest of Illusion.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN END.


	17. 16: Slow, Painful Death

Chapter Sixteen: Slow, Painful Death

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 1

In the middle of a mystical forest lies many animals and wildlife that are rarely touched by urban civilizations. They have remained so for the past century. It camouflaged itself with a white smoke that keeps animals with poor eyesight at bay. The Forest of Illusion was created to be untouched by such civilizations. However, some have figured a way around this. The Warp Pipes allow this access to the Forest.

And this is where our heroes come out of. A simple, green Warp Pipe in the middle of the forest. The first two to exit the pipe are Adelenn and Geno, with Adelenn still carrying Geno as if he was a doll. She frantically looks around for any sign of privacy.

"Come on, come on… there's gotta be something I can hide behind while I use the bathroom!" Adelenn whispers nervously to herself. She turns her head to the left, and sees an enormous bush that towers over her. "THERE!" Adelenn shrieks, as she makes a run for it. "HEY! WHY ARE YOU TAKING ME WITH YOU!?" Geno starts shouting, and tries to free himself from Adelenn's grasp. It proved to be useless; Adelenn's grip was too strong to break out of. 'Rosalina… help me.' Geno prays to the stars, hoping that he'll be blessed. Then, Adelenn and Geno disappear by the bush.

Only a few short seconds later, the other six emerge from the Warp Pipe. Lupo, Patricia, RAWR and Vivian all look around once exiting. All they see are the mystical trees that lay in their path. They were beautiful, and certainly worth pictographing, a type of photography method introduced in Hyrule. "Wow… This is beautiful." Patricia smells the plants around her. She gets a nice, tingly feeling inside her nose, but then it turns into a sneeze.

"What a beautiful place this is." Vivian takes notes in her Tattle Log. "There are trees with faces on them, but most of them just have the usual eye marks. Interestingly enough, trees are usually not affected by this mutation in stationary objects. But… I guess these trees are." Lupo explains. "Rawr." RAWR says when he looks up a tree.

Mario and Link were not surprised at all by the sight of the Forest of Illusion. Both have been here before. "Looks the same, huh?" Link asks Mario. Mario happily nods. "Isn't that a good thing? This forest should not be harmed, so I'm glad that it isn't." Mario replies. He also sniffs at the air, and smells wonderful aromas from the daisy flowers and for some reason, the candy grass.

"So… where's Adelenn and Geno?" Patricia wonders, crossing her arms and looking for a sign of them. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" They hear a scream from the left of their position. "That sounds like Geno… but that's not a Geno thing to do…" Mario puts his hand to his chin, wondering what could be the cause.

Suddenly, Adelenn appears right next to them, feeling joy, and looked rejuvenated. "Hey guys! I feel much better now!" Adelenn states. Everyone knew what she meant. "…Oh. Well, where's Geno?" Patricia asks. Adelenn looks at the giant bush behind her. "He's crying over there, but I forget why." Adelenn answers.

"IT WAS TERRIBLE! AND I'M NOT CRYING! THAT'S NOT A GENO THING TO DO!" Geno yells loudly while using Geno Whirl on the bush. "Adelenn! Do you have ANY sense of dignity!? I did NOT need to see your undergarments!" He throws his hat on the floor in a blaze, displaying his orange hair. "Um… I love you too?" Adelenn replies. "RRRRRRGH! NOT THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR! NOW LET'S GO BEAT THE STUFFING OUT OF THAT DEATH!" Geno replies as he picks up his hat.

Link's mouth was wide open. "Ohoho! This gives me a great idea!" Link pounds his hand with his other hand. Patricia stares at him dead in the eyes, grabs him by the tunic, and strikes him across the face. "NOT HERE, YOU DUMMY!" She growls. "You don't just SAY things like that, sweetheart. These are things you say privately. Anyways, you won't catch me DEAD in my undergarments! Never!" Link just shrugs at this. "Whatever you say, Ms. Stingy." Link replies.

"Mario… do you have any idea about where we are in the Forest of Illusion?" Lupo asks as she looks around. Everything was very similar to her. No matter where she looked, the forest would look the same. "We're in the very heart of the forest. If I'm correct, if we head North, then West, then South, and finally West again, we shall make it through safely. The only way we'll know that the pattern was complete is through logs. The setup of this forest is similar to the Lost Woods in Hyrule." Mario replies. "But… it will be annoying. Ah, Mama Mia." He scratches his head.

"It's okay, Mario. I know that we'll make it through just fine. You can count on your friendly Demon Adelenn to be the knight in shiny gold armor!" Adelenn pumps her fist, showing her excitement to fight. Mario smiles. "Good. Now, let's-a go!" Mario shouts aloud, and the heroes follow behind him.

It was definitely a while before they saw that they were making progress. This time, they could see the sun setting. "Good. The sun is setting, so that means that this direction is the West. But… where's the North?" Vivian asks. Mario doesn't really have a clue, so he shrugs. "I say we cut a tree open to see the inside of the tree rings. They usually point to the north, where sunlight is taken in more often." Lupo suggests. She used to be a lumberjack before taking on any difficult construction jobs, and she has noticed these things in the past.

"It's a good idea, but remember; we can't harm the trees here, or we'll be cursed. Beware the Forest Maze." Geno states, know how dangerous these woods can be; he's had experience with mystical woods in the past. "Instead, why not just look at how the plants are growing? The leaves are usually the thickest in the northern direction."

He takes a look at a tree that was in proximity of himself. He studies the leaves, as he explained. From the West, they looked as if they were pointing to the left of it. This tree was giving him exactly what he needed. "There is the North. Now we can solve our little puzzle." Geno smirks.

He then notices Adelenn wandering off to the South. "Is this where we're gonna go?" Adelenn wonders. "Adelenn! Wrong way!" Vivian waves her arms at Adelenn, trying to get her attention. Fortunately, she was actually paying attention. "Oh, okay!" Adelenn runs back towards her friends.

As she's running towards her friends, though, she hears a screech. "SKREEEEEEEP!" it sounds. It was the sound of a bat-like creature. When Adelenn looks up, she sees a bat flying through the sunset. "Vhy is this forest so despicable? Vhy am I still going in circles!?" It mumbles angrily, and it disappears from sight. "Vhatever, I shall find my vay out of here soon enough."

"That bat is really angry today." Adelenn says. She just shrugs her arms and continues to walk over to her friends. "Are… you alright, Adelenn? You spaced out for a moment." Link waves his hand in front of Adelenn's face, and her impulse was to bite his hand. "Mmm… Tasty…" Adelenn starts to drool all over Link's left hand.

"Hey… This isn't bacon. I need this hand so that I can fight." Link says in response, getting goosebumps from Adelenn's strawberry-scented saliva. She lets go afterwards. Link seemed unaffected by the bite, even though it was at maximum biting strength (although he shook his hand a little bit).

"Okay… there is the North! Let's hurry!" Patricia commands, and the others follow behind her. They all enter through a log, which was extremely dark. But, it was short, and in a few seconds, they reached the other side.

The part of the forest that they entered was exactly like the part prior to this one. Patricia was confused. "…What? How did we end up back here, and in a different part?" She asks. Mario chuckles a little bit. "We have to continue with the rest of this puzzle, or we'll be stuck here forever." Mario explains. "Over there, where the sun is. That's where we need to be next. Let's-a go!" Mario raises his cap and has the heroes follow him. For a good minute, they ran. They ran until the found themselves in the same place for the third time.

Adelenn was unsure about where they were. "My Demon instincts tell me that we should go… that-a-way!" She points towards the East, which is not where they're supposed to be going. "…That's a load of bologna." Patricia growls. "B-but… my Demon instincts…" She moans, disappointed with the fact that her ability to sense the right direction was not as powerful as the others. RAWR encouraged her to keep going, though.

"Rawr." RAWR says to her. "I guess so… I'll just have to get better at it!" Adelenn huffs and puffs with determination. She protrudes her large chest forward, and marches toward the heroes, breaking the forest floor whenever she stomped. And so, they head to the South.

This was the fourth time that they meet with the same part of the forest again. "I swear, if all of this progress was for nothing, you're getting a big one right in the face!" Patricia curls up her fist and shakes it at Mario. "Don't be so impatient, Pat." Link says. "I used to live in woods like these. I know what they can do." He smiles and breathes in the fresh air. "No wonder you're such a go-getter. You have not a care in the world." Lupo smirks.

Link was surprised to hear this, however. "W-what!? Yes I do! Malon's still at home. There's not a waking moment that I don't fear the fact that she might be in danger! It's hard for me to live like that; when your only family member is alone." He says. Malon is one of the first people he's had some sort of connection to, so it was natural to feel concern.

"Now if you want to see a carefree person, look at that girl." He points at Adelenn, who was trying to grab a banana from a tree with her scythe. "Now this is the time where I wish I could fly… I'm really hungry." Adelenn mumbles to herself, trying to jump and flap her wing in an effort to fly. It proved useless. "Aw, come on, yellow fruit! Drop into my mouth!" Adelenn pouts.

"Hmmm… We all have some family… who is part of Adelenn's family?" Vivian wonders deeply. Adelenn's backstory has been unknown to all of the heroes, since all she really said was that she's been imprisoned for her whole life. "She probably does not have any siblings, considering the fact that Demons are born about every three centuries or so. If she does, they're much older than she is, and have no knowledge of her existence. And the fact still remains; she's the most recent Demon to walk this planet." Geno lowers his eyes. "Yet she seems too powerful to be an ordinary Demon. I can't go into any assumptions yet, so I won't discuss further." He drags his cape as he turns around.

He looks for the sun once again. "There's the West. After this, we may find ourselves in a different part of the forest at last. Just hang in there." He states. He walks without warning, and everyone sighs in relief. They were about to finish the long, boring journey through the Forest of Illusion.

That is, until Link remembered something! "Aw, snap! We forgot to ask Ludwig why he and his brother were trying to kill us!" Patricia instantly looks at him. "…I can't believe you… you remembered that just NOW!? You should've paid attention, Mr. Hero." She crosses her arms in disappointment. "Hey, you forgot about it as well. Don't try to pin this only on me." Link pokes her chest. "Question. Why are you doing that?" Patricia looks downward at her chest. Link gives her a cheeky smile. "Because you deserve a good poke." Link replies.

"…Hm. I'm watching you." Patricia stares at him and continues to walk. Link looks at Mario, who buried his head into his hand. "This is why everyone outside of the Smash Bros. Guild Hall underestimates you, Link. You do stuff like that. Mama Mia…" Mario states.

They failed to notice that they just exited the area of the forest that they were in, and into a new area. The trees in this new area were even greener, and were more spread out. They were still incredibly tall for trees.

"Wow! Trees! They're so awesome and big! I bet all trees are this tall in the Mushroom Kingdom!" Adelenn claps her hands together. "Sorry, Adelenn, not all of them are. But they can get pretty big." Geno says disappointedly. "Hmmm… I thought so." Adelenn says. "Fuego said that trees were ugly, but they look so pretty."

Mario looks around for a moment. He notices that the area around him seemed to be altered. Instead of there being a large fortress in the middle of this land, there was just a singular throne. Around it were large pieces of rubble, and none of it was natural rock. All of it was remains of a fortress that Mario has been to. "Whoa…" Mario mumbles quietly.

Mario and Link could see a figure sitting very comfortably on an untouched bronze throne. His hair was platinum-white, along with it being short and spiky. His body was quite average for a human, as he looked like one. He was very tall, about a foot taller than Adelenn herself. He wore a black T-Shirt with a tombstone and a skull as an illustration. He also wore tight-fitting blue pants. They too, had skulls. His face was obscured, though.

Next to him was Magikoopa from earlier. They looked as if they were talking. "Hmm… looks like we caught up to that Death. Let's go get 'em." Vivian states. Mario and Link nod, and all eight of the heroes travel slowly towards the two.

"Look, Don Tae. It looks as if you have some visitors. Shall I greet them?" He stands up, and lets his head hang downward. "With that kinda face of yours, you can instill fear into any of those dimwits. You might as well." The Magikoopa now known as Don Tae agrees with him. He faces towards the eight heroes and watches them walk forward.

"Welcome, ladies and gentleman… to the Forest of Illusion. It's a pleasure to see all of you… hehehe…" The man states. Mario and friends get in a defensive formation. "That guy is really weird." Lupo grunts. "He isn't even looking at us and he still knew where we were."

"…My, I don't believe I've even introduced myself. What a shame. I guess I'll just have to look at you to inform you." The man states, as he looks up at the heroes.

"What!?" Mario shouts aloud. When he gets a good look at the man, he saw his emerald-green eye. It was his right eye, and it was full of evil intentions. But his left…

Was a void. Geno's pupils were completely focused on that void, and he looks back at Adelenn. "O-oh no… That guy… there's no mistaking it twice." Geno starts to sweat a little bit, concerned about the possible entity of the person that stands before them. "He's… he's a…" Patricia stammers.

"Demon Lord." Adelenn mumbles angrily. Immediately, everyone looks at Adelenn. "DEMON LORD!?" Lupo shouts. The Demon Lord merely laughs at this. "Hahaha… It seems that you know about what I'm capable of… I am the sixth of Ten, and I represent so proudly. My name is Tarin Duce, Death of Desire. Hmmhmm." He looks at the group carefully.

"Unfortunately for you, I can measure your power by the output of mana that you release. The more powerful foes unleash more mana naturally. Let's see…" He looks at each of the heroes. "The purple skinned lady seems to have the weakest mana output… the girl with the hard-hat is strong, but I'm certain I can find more…"

Then, he finally finds Link's mana. "One of Tarin's specialties is to locate someone and judge their strength by focusing on their mana… it's simple, yet creative." Adelenn finishes. "…" He stays silent for a moment, but not because he's disappointed.

He was worried. "Guh… Which one of you has THIS mana? Is it you, red-capped plumber?" Tarin points at the mustached hero. Mario merely smirks. "No. I suppress mine, but it's not too impressive. The one you're probably focusing on is either Adelenn's mana…" he pauses. "…Or Link's mana."

Link was staring at Tarin, dead in the eye. When he does so, his eyes glow for a brief period. "So you're the one who abused Adelenn, huh? The one who sought to gain something out of tormenting and torturing an innocent, young woman? You wanted her body, and when she refused, you decided to harm it…" Link growls under his breath. This was the first time most of the heroes besides Link and Patricia have ever seen him angry.

Mario was already nervous. "Mama Mia… Link, try to calm down… we can't have you level the entire forest." He tries to reason with Link. "This man thought that he could get away with abusing a lady with no punishments. This is all I have to say…"

Suddenly, Link disappears from view. "Wha!?" The heroes shout. "Oh no… Link's moving incredibly fast! He could be anywhere." Patricia exclaims.

Suddenly, Link appears in front of Tarin. "YOU PIG!" He shouts with all his might, and brings up his fist. Then, he jabs at Tarin with an incredible speed. When his punch lands, an explosion of energy occurs between the two. Link stays completely still, whereas Tarin is sent flying into the opposite direction. Instantly, Tarin breaks through several thick trees at once, and tumbles into the ground.

Tarin was bleeding profusely. He gets up from the attack, but is wobbly. He wipes the blood off of his mouth, and spits. "Darn… This kid is way too young to be able to beat me! I'm four-hundred years old, and I've been training my entire life! But this kid was able to make me BLEED!?" He growls.

"Well… you obviously didn't train hard enough. Because if that were so… you'd be able to dodge that slow attack of mine." Link smirks. "Unlike you, Death of Desire… I push myself hard enough to be able to protect my friends from scum like you. I push myself to defend what is right! I could care less about myself! Any of my ancestors would agree! Now… get lost, or DIE LIKE THE LOWLY TRASH THAT YOU ARE!" Link unsheathes the Master Sword in an instant and points it at Tarin.

Mario gasped at this. "Mama Mia… Link? Giving death threats!?" He asks himself. 'So out of character… Poor Link.' Patricia thinks to herself. She was worried about Link the minute he started to tense up. 'That Tarin guy better leave before he gets what's coming to him…'

Suddenly, the back of Tarin's black shirt tears open, and two shiny, crimson wings appear. "This kid is something else! Alright, I'll back off! But… Don will deal with you. Hehehehe…" And in an instant, Tarin Duce disappears. "Hey! You're gonna leave me alone to fight this brat!? Ugh, FINE!" Don Tae shouts at the air.

"…Might as well introduce myself… Yeah, you probably heard this before. 'Eeeeeeh, I'm the fourth of Ten and something-something.' I represent Pain, but not proudly. I still have to kill ya, though." He swings his magic rod into his open hand.

He suddenly holds a scrunched hand out at Link. "What are you d-"

Suddenly, Link was unable to move. "Ack! H-hey! What's going on!?" Link shouts. Link tries breaking free from the invisible grip, but does so with fail. "Tsk tsk tsk. Man, I thought that you wouldn't fall for such an old trick like that. Guess you're not as tough as you look." Don smirks.

He balls up his hand into a fist, and it causes Link to yell in pain. "AAAAGH!" Link screams. He was squirming at an immense rate. "Hehehehe… Look at you, defenseless as a child! If you can't defeat me, you are sure to die later on!" Don Tae laughs. He continues to grab at Link until he starts bleeding.

The Death laughs even more. "HAHAHA! WHAT A LOUSY WAY FOR YOU TO D-"

"Oh, hey. You. Death." Link starts to point at Don. "What do you not? Wait, WHY ARE YOU MOVING!?" He starts to squeal. "Weeeeeell… two things. One, you are actually doing nothing to me. Two…" Link drags on. This causes Don to become furious. "WHAAAAAAT!?" He roars.

"…You suck!" Link quickly states as he sticks his tongue out at Don Tae. "YOU LITTLE WEASEL! I'M GONNA MAKE SURE YOU DIE HERE!" Don screams once more, and throws a direct beam of magic at Link. Instantly, Link breaks out of the barrier Don created, and pulls out his Master Sword. "Alright. Fi! Do your thing!" Link commands his sword.

"…He's using the sword to absorb that magic!?" Vivian notes. Mario simply smirks as he sees this. "Mario! What does that mean?" Adelenn wonders. Mario chuckles as she asks this. "Oh, this is one technique you haven't seen from Link yet… powering up his Skyward Strike by absorbing other magic projectiles. Want to know how much it multiplies his strike by?" Mario smirks.

"Uh… I'm bad at math, so I dunno." Adelenn scratches her head nervously and laughs. Geno stares at her with disappointment. "Uh… Fuego never taught you how to multiply, eh? Why did he try to make you as unintelligent as possible?" Geno asks. "Why don't you tell us anyway, Mario?"

"Ten." Mario mumbles as if he's unimpressed. "I don't think I've told you guys this, but Link and the rest of the gang is so powerful that Master hand has our power forcefully suppressed in the Smash Bros. Tourney as to not harm each other seriously."

"Whoa…" Lupo gasps with envy. "I'm guessing Link has never lost a fight before due to his immense strength, huh?" She asks. Patricia and Mario shake their heads. "No… at least from what I've heard, Link was at first the weakest of his entire group. He tried and tried, but never seemed to catch up with us… until later, when Ganondorf was about to kill his cousin, Malon. But that's another story."

Link was about to unleash his Skyward Strike. "Say goodbye to everything that you hoped to destroy!" Link shouts at Don Tae, who was completely frozen by the fact that Link absorbed his attack. "What!? THIS IS… AN OUTRAGE! UNACCEPTABLE!" He starts to shout aloud.

He suddenly begins to hold his hand out towards the other heroes. "H-Hey! Who's grabbing me!? M-My neck is feeling a-all kinds of ways!" Suddenly, Adelenn is struggling to break free from an invisible force. Everyone gasps. "Adelenn!" Link shouts, and he looks back at Don with a deadly stare. "YOU! LET HER GO! RIGHT NOW!" He roars.

Don merely smirks. nuh, uh, uh… You're not in the position to be threatening anyone…" Don laughs manically. "HAHAHA! If you value the life of your Demon comrade, you better not make a move! If you do, I will kill her without any effort. Simple as that." He lowers his eyes.

Patricia wants to charge at Don, but can't do anything. "You wouldn't!" Patricia screams aloud. RAWR was also very upset. "RAWR! RAWAWAWAWAWR!" He starts barking ferociously. Geno curls up his fists. "Let her go, Death! She has done nothing to you!" Geno commands. Don laughs even more as he adjusts his glasses.

"Ah, but isn't this one ALSO a Death!? More importantly the Death of Fear, Star Child? What do you greenhorns lose from me destroying her? She has probably killed twice the amount of people any of the other Deaths have! Why punish me instead of her!?" Don tries to reason.

"I hate to break it to you, but Adelenn, even in her years of captivity, has yet to kill even one person, let alone any civilians! Not only that, but she's a great friend to have! She makes us laugh, even in dark times. She makes us feel comfortable, even though she has a menacing appearance to most. We keep her safe, because nobody else would! She's more than our friend by now, even in the short amount of time she's been with us! She's FAMILY! Don't you EVER harm a fabulous woman such as Adelenn!" Geno growls.

Don Tae nearly yawns at this. "I feel like I've heard this conversation before. Continuing the torment." He mumbles as he clenches his fist, and crushes Adelenn from the inside. For a moment, she grunts in pain due to this. He continues to do so for a long time.

"Ugh." Adelenn lets out before she starts to bleed from the mouth.

Link's eyes were completely focused on Adelenn, and how she was suffering from a nearly inescapable force. His pupils became smaller due to him being in shock of what he saw. 'The blood of my friend… was drawn. Drawn by the enemy. Enemy. The enemy has to be taught a lesson.' Link thinks to himself in a very primitive matter.

Link slowly turns his head towards Don Tae. "What's that look for? You're scared?" Don laughs at him with such foolish pride. Link would not even react for a second, for his eyes focused on nothing but Don's face.

Instantly, his eyes started to glow a bright, blue color. When this happens, aura appears from all around him, like a flow of wind.

"YOOOOU!" He growls, as he releases an enormous amount of this aura, and places it directly into the Master Sword. "YOU HAVE… FIVE SECONDS! FIVE SECONDS TO STOP BEFORE I WILL MUTILATE YOU, AND GRIND YOU INTO DUST!" Link's voice rumbles the ground, causing it to shift in an insane matter.

"FIVE!" Link shouts. He raises the Master Sword higher. "Like I believe you can do that." Don replies. "FOUR!" Link roars again. He shifts the position of his feet. "Ha, like changing your stance will do anything!" Don replies foolishly. "STOP IT, DON! LINK WILL ACTUALLY KILL YOU AT THIS RATE!" Mario attempts to yell over the sound of Link's aura seeping out.

"THREE!" Link shouts again. He tosses his Hylian Shield to the ground. "Heh, still ain't listening to you, ya bluffing freak." Don picks at his ear. "DON'T TOY WITH HIM! DO AS HE SAYS!" Patricia screams. "TWO!" Link shouts for a fourth time. He raises his other hand and places it on the Master Sword's handle.

"…Uh... hey, why are you positioned as if you can attack me from there?" Don asks nervously. "Hehe… y-you can't do a-anything from t-there." He also assumes. "ONE!" Link clearly asserts, as he brings the Master Sword higher for the final time.

"DON! RUN!" Vivian attempts to scream, but the words won't come out. She is too afraid of Link's immense power, and is completely frozen. "…Only four people that I know haven't lost a life due to this attack Link is going to attempt…" Mario whispers. "Those people include myself, Rosalina, Master Hand… and Link himself. It's a very difficult move to use, since it mostly means the sudden death of his opponent; and not because it is difficult to perform."

"…Your time is up. It is time to be a witness of this one attack." Link whispers. "KENDO STRIKE! HEAVENLY SKYWARD ASSAULT!" Link screams with all of his might. When he does so, he brings his sword down to the earth.

But as he does so, he shortens the distance between himself and Don. It was so fast that Don couldn't react to him moving. "Wh-"

Then, Link slices at Don, and the Skyward Strike is released. A massive beam of light appears from Link's sword, and pierces right through the Death.

"...Oh... this looks like it's the end of my game. Jeez, I thought I could last just a few more years, but it looks like I was overpowered. Overpowered by a single kid from a group of eight. You guys must be REALLY strong if you were able to end four of us... But we were just the very weakest of the four. The last six are beyond even your comprehension. It may take A LOT more than just one of you to defeat them." He mutters, as he slowly disintegrates from the bottom up.

"But... thank you for ending my suffering. I hope the Underwhere treats me nicely." Finally, he disappears from view, and only his Crystal Sun remains. With this, Link sheathes his sword and turns around to face the heroes.

"...Sorry, guys... I think I lost it for just a touch." Link looks down at the floor. "There's nothing to be sorry about." Adelenn tries to tend to Link. "You saw that the evil guy was doing his evil thing, and you stopped him from doing more bad things! That's good! You did the hero thing because it was the right thing to do!" Adelenn shouts and gestures her hands upward and outward.

"For once, Adelenn's correct, Mr. Champion of Brawl. You saved her, and she's glad that you did what you could." Geno smirks while simultaneously punching him dead into the face with full power. "You're a tough guy. Stay tough, but stay the way you are. An honest, protective hero."

"Yeah... I get it now but..." Link pauses.

"THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY YOU HAD TO PUNCH ME IN THE FACE! THAT ACTUALLY HURT A LITTLE!" He starts shouting at Geno. "Look, I got your whole speech and stuff, but since when were they physical!?" Link chastises him. "Oh quit it, you! It's not like you actually got injured from it, so why are you complaining?" Patricia asks.

"'Cuz I got hit for NO reason!" Link explains. "That's like me poking you in the face!"

"...You will die the next time you do that." Patricia growls. Link stands up firmly, and brave. "Yeah, says the woman that couldn't kill me with a blast the size of Princess Peach's castle." Link snickers. This causes Patricia and Vivian to grab Link by his pointy ears. "H-hey! Let me go!" Link commands.

"Hehehe... this thing is even prettier than the last one..." Adelenn murmurs in the distance. The heroes turn around to see Adelenn holding the Crystal Sun between her scarred legs. She pokes at the Crystal Sun, and it would react to it by pulsating. "So... we should pick this up, right?"

"WRONG!" A voice in the distance roars. Immediately, Adelenn gets up and looks around. "Huh?" She says. She looks around for a sign of who spoke, but she can't. "That guy might be advancing... Is he strong!?" Adelenn wonders. Mario and Geno instantly nod their heads in approval.

"YEAH, HE'S REALLY STRONG!" They shout simultaneously. The instant later, a giant figure jumps right in front of Adelenn. "Oh, hi there, Mr. Big guy." Adelenn greets the giant figure.

A few seconds later it turns out to have been Bowser once again (duuuuh). "Move out the way, woman." Bowser growls at her, and pushes her to the side. "Hey! We need that, Mr. Big guy! Or else the world is in danger!"

"More importantly, what are you doing here!?" Mario commands him to answer. Bowser's laugh echoes across the forest. "BWAHAHA! I followed you nimrods ALL the way over here! Since Dark Link wasn't here to help, I had to find you by myself. BUT! It paid out! I was actually successful one time!" He picks up the green Crystal Sun with his giant hands.

"Hehehe… Let's see what happens… when I do THIS!" Bowser roars. "This time, I won't lose to you, Ms. Tanks-for-arms!" He raises the Crystal Sun up, and tries to use it… "ALRIGHT, YOU HUNK OF JEWELERY! Do my BIDDING!" He yells, and points at the heroes, who get in a defensive position.

But nothing happens. "…Hey, I thought these things give you superpowers." He taps the Crystal Sun several times. "…Uh oh." He looks up slowly to see a smiling Mario. "Hoohoo! It looks like someone hasn't figured out how to use it. Lucky!" Mario exclaims.

But, Bowser smiles evilly. "You know what, Mario? I lose. But before I surrender, I gotta eat something. And I know what kind of snack I want today." He growls. He raises the Crystal Sun towards his mouth, and opens it.

"Oh no! Are you crazy!?" Link yells at the King Koopa. "You don't know what that can do to you! You might even be killed!"

"…As long as I get to beat HIM, I don't CARE what happens to my body!" Bowser roars as he points at Mario.

Then, he drops the Crystal Sun into his mouth, and swallows it whole. "NO!" Patricia shouts.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN END.


	18. 17: Jaraberutzu Akira

Chapter Seventeen: Jaraberutzu Akira

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 2

"…I can't believe he actually did it." Mario stares at King Bowser. "He swallowed a Crystal Sun…"

The eight heroes look at Bowser as he continues to struggle with completely swallowing the Crystal Sun. Once he finishes, he unleashes a loud burp, which forces some trees to forcefully bend against their will. "RAWR! RAWRAWR!" RAWR starts barking uncontrollably at the Koopa King.

"Mmm… that was a pretty hefty snack!" Bowser roars, suddenly becoming revitalized. "Now… let's turn the tables, shall we?"

Suddenly, Bowser begins to grow. He begins to grow at an immense rate. "Wh-what!? This again!?" Bowser growls. "ALRIGHT!" Bowser begins to feel much encouragement since this is happening. As he grows, trees begin to break, as he was taking up too much space. The massive trees had no choice but to break with ease. The ground rumbles ferociously, causing Patricia to crash into the floor.

"W-whoa! Mr. Big Guy can be even bigger!? I wish I could do that!" Adelenn states with envy as she continues to watch him grow. "...This must be what a Crystal Sun can do to someone... It's altering his powers, causing him to change appearance... What have you done, Bowser?" Geno stares at the continually growing Bowser.

Suddenly, he stops growing. All they could see was his giant, clawed foot. The rest was obscured by the rest of the massive trees that did not fall. "...He's destroying the Forest of Illusion by just growing. Those trees were not meant to be destroyed. They were created for the sole purpose of being nigh indestructible!" Geno explains. As a Guardian of the Star Road, he takes offense to the abuse of nature, regardless of who commits it.

"Alright, no more games, Bowser! Spit that Crystal Sun out, and you may be saved from a good beating!" Link commands of the enormous Bowser, pointing at him with the Master Sword. When this happens, Bowser, with his large arms and hands, destroys the trees around the eight heroes. "…Hey there, tiny." Bowser's voice rumbles the floor around him.

He then crouches down to attack Link. "THIS IS FOR THAT TIME IN THE OBSERVATORY!" Bowser roars. Suddenly, his right arm is raised. In a matter of seconds, Bowser's hand crashes into the earth, and directly hits Link! "LINK!" Lupo and Patricia shout.

The giant Bowser smirks. "HAH! Is that all you have, puny!? I thought that you would be more of a ch-"

Bowser is suddenly shifting back and forth, and his arm is not in his control anymore. He cannot move his hand, which was still on top of Link. "Huh!?" Bowser roars. "THAT WASN'T ENOUGH TO SQUISH YOU LIKE A BUG!?"

Down below was a smirking Link, who was slightly injured by the attack, as he has a few bruises on his chest. Also with him was Mario. In reality, both were holding up Bowser's fist. "Mama Mia… Link, you gotta be more careful when you do that!" Mario states. "Really? My bad." Link growls back at him. "Now's not the time to play around! Can you handle his arm by yourself for a moment!?" Mario replies. Link winks at Mario. "Aye!" He responds.

Mario lets go of Bowser's arm, and Link puts all of his strength into keeping it on the floor. "I'll go for his leg, and I'll topple him over! Make sure he can't move from there!" Mario shouts, as he goes into a dash for Bowser's left leg, which was extended near the southern part.

"Oh NO you don't!" Bowser's voice rumbles. This time, Bowser uses his other fist to attack at Mario. He raises it high, and forms a fist. He then sends it crashing towards his leg, where Mario is. 'Uh oh!' Mario thinks to himself.

Instinctively, Mario jumps towards Bowser's meteor-like fist, and kicks into it with all of his might. Both Mario and Bowser's fist stop dead in their tracks. "Hnnngh…" Bowser starts to struggle. "You… WILL NOT! OVERPOWER ME, PUNY PLUMBER!" Bowser roars proudly.

Bowser starts to force his arm right into Mario! "This is-a not good at all!" Mario stutters! He was being forced into the ground! Mario was helpless, as he couldn't stop Bowser at all! "When did he get so strong!? I had no problem holding up his arm before!" Mario wonders to himself. When Mario looks behind him, though…

He's about to be sent right into the ground! "Oh no oh no oh no! I'm gonna get wrecked!" Mario shouts. He tries to push away Bowser's arm, but he still cannot stop it from moving! Once he touches the ground, He has control of his feet, but not for long. "Hnngh…" Mario struggles to say.

"Woohoo! KICKING TIME!" Adelenn shouts, as she hops and skips towards Bowser's leg. She was unnoticed right until she touched Bowser's enormous foot. "Huh!? Someone got under me already!?" Bowser asks.

"Heeeeeeya!" Adelenn raises her leg up to her chest, and sends it right into Bowser's leg with half of her usual power. "Alrighty, Patricia AND RAWR told me not to use all of my power! Or else I'd get no cupcakes!" She frowns.

However, she did not know that her one kick was forcing the gigantic Bowser topple onto the ground. He was sent a few feet into the air, which was virtually nothing to Bowser. However, Adelenn's kick swept him off of his feet in the first place. "…Uh oh." She gasps momentarily.

Bowser was starting to fall backwards, right onto his shell. Behind him were the other five heroes who were watching! "Get out the way!" Patricia instantly commands. Geno and RAWR head to the left, and Patricia with Vivian dash to the right. They were almost all safe from the impact zone…

…Except Lupo. Her yellow eyes were wide open, and she was frozen right where she stood. '…Come on, legs! Move! MOVE!' Lupo angrily thought to herself, but her body was locked in position. She was not moving, nor did she have the will to move.

"Lupo! GET OUT OF THERE!" Mario shouts, as he tries to run towards her as fast as he could.

…But he was too late. The giant Bowser has completely toppled over Lupo. "NO!" Mario screams aloud, holding his arm out. Instantly, Bowser gets up as well. Underneath him was much broken ground, and a crippled, broken Lupo. Scratches and bruises were covering her, and her overalls were tattered. "RAWR!" RAWR barks, showing concern for Mario's cousin.

Mario has the sudden urge to be at her side, and investigate what's wrong. "Are you alright, Lupo?" Mario asks. She coughs several times, and as she did so, she bled. "Hehe… what are you… a doctor? I'll… I'll be fine. Just… go beat that guy up." She weakly points at the giant Bowser.

Seconds later, Link saw that the other six were huddling together. He keeps an eye on Bowser, and dashes towards the heroes. "Link's coming." Patricia says.

"LINK'S COMING!?" Mario demands. "If he comes to Lupo in THIS state… I don't even wanna know what would happen.

"Guys, what happened!? Where's Lupo? I saw her standing right he-" Link cuts his sentence off. On the cold ground, he sees Lupo, as she was crushed by Bowser's massive shell. For a moment, Link mentally shuts down. He was in complete shock. "H-hey, Link…" Lupo coughs.

"Enemy. Sacrifice. Blood. Protect. Serve. Destroy. Enemy. Destroy." Link mumbles, still shut down from what he saw. Then, he puts his hand on the Master Sword. "Enemy. Must. Suffer." Link mumbles.

Instantly, Geno reacts by holding Link's arms together with much exertion and force. Link struggles for a moment, as he blindly continues to unsheathe the Master Sword. "Don't." Geno shakes his head. "We can't have you killing Bowser, especially in a sacred place like this."

Link merely pushes Geno out of the way, and continues to unsheathe the Master Sword. "Hold him down! NOW!" Geno commands some of the heroes. Patricia, Adelenn, and Vivian all hold Link down, as he struggles to move. But he was struggling so much that Adelenn was forced to put him into the ground with all of her might.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! LET! ME! GO! ENEMY! MUST SUFFER!" Link roars at his friends. "Stop it, Link! If we let you go, who knows what you'll do to Bowser! He may be a despicable man, but he has never killed anyone! There's no reason to kill him!" Vivian shouts back at him.

"…Don't worry, Link. We'll deal with him for you." Geno smirks. Mario, standing alongside Geno, also smirks. "We got your back, Link. It's time for us to do the hero's job." Mario states.

The two both look up to the giant Bowser, who was laughing deeply to what Link had witnessed. "LOOK AT YOUR PATHETIC FRIEND! He's WEEPING at my awesome power! Is this how you treat one of your weakest fighters!? LAME!" His deep voice rumbles the very ground itself once more.

Mario lowers his cap. "Wrong." Mario grunts. "You are VERY mistaken. Link… is our STRONGEST. He knows that he has too much killing potential. He purposely holds himself back because of this! Even DURING Master Hand's power suppression, he is in a whole different class than we are. This is why Link is one of the three S-Tier Brawlers!"

Bowser laughs again, but even harder. "You think I'LL believe that!? What a joke! I've been close to beating this chump several times!" Bowser replies proudly, and lashes his arm out at Geno. Geno jumps onto his fist with little effort.

"This is no good, Mario. He's fast, even though he's big." Geno states, while jumping off of Bowser's hand, and back onto the forest ground. "If we let our guard down for even a minute, we're bound to be hit by one of his flying fists." Mario takes a look at the giant Bowser, and tries to look for an opening.

However, he couldn't find one. Bowser did not seem touchable at this angle. Not only that, he was destroying the forest, bit by bit. "RAWR! RAWR!" RAWR points at the trees while getting Mario's attention. "Geno, he's blowing our cover! What should we do now?"

"Stop him." Geno mumbles. "Come on, RAWR! Let's go!" Geno runs out into the open, and RAWR follows shortly behind him. He closes the large gap between him and Bowser, and tries to grab his attention. "Yo! Over here!" Geno shouts.

This immediately grabs the enormous Bowser's attention. Even when turning around, the ground would shake. "Oh, so you stopped hiding like a little sissy! GOOD! I was DONE playing around!" Bowser roars. After roaring for a good amount of time, he takes a big breath.

Geno gulps. "Darn… He's gonna destroy everything here just to get rid of me." Geno growls. "To counter this fire will take a lot of water… but I don't have any… I'll need to counter the incoming flame with a bigger, badder flame…" He talks to himself, trying to formulate a strategy. "If only we had a…"

He snaps his fingers. "I GOT IT! We have RAWR!" Geno looks behind him. "I hope he knows how to use Flamethrower…"

"…Rawr?" RAWR makes a questioning sound. Geno smirks once again. "Alright, then. RAWR! Follow me!" Geno commands RAWR.

In the middle of the barren forest stood Geno and RAWR. As soon as they position themselves, the giant Bowser releases his flames. They were a glowing orange, and were shot with such accuracy and power. However, Geno merely laughs at this. "GENO BOOST!" He yells, and boosts the power of both him and RAWR.

"OKAY, RAWR! SHOOT 'EM DOWN WITH FLAMETHROWER!" Geno points at the giant flames. "RAWR!" RAWR replies instantly. RAWR jumps backwards to prepare his attack. He takes a deep breath, and the flames on his neck grow to an amazing height.

"With Geno Boost, these flames should be equivalent to a Pokémon's Flamethrower at a level equivalent to 140!" Geno shouts. "NOW RELEASE, RAWR!"

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" RAWR's immense flamethrower shoots out, and directly hits Bowser's flames! Immediately, there was a beam struggle between the two flames. "RRRRWRRRR…" RAWR growls, trying to overpower Bowser's flame. "You cannot defeat me with that kind of a flame! NOW BEGONE!" Bowser roars. He was easily overpowering RAWR.

"Come on, RAWR, you can do it!" Geno shouts, trying to encourage the Pokémon. "RAWR!" RAWR shouts back, displaying that he is trying his best. "Come on, RAWR!" Adelenn shouts, while still pinning down Link. "Yeah, GO GET HIM!" Patricia shouts after. "We believe in you!" Vivian chimes in.

Lupo even gets a turn. "Y-yeah, buddy. Go kick some tail… and preferably Bowser's tail. He needs it." She weakly says as she feeds herself a Super Mushroom. Link, who was still struggling, also chimes in. "MAKE HIM SUFFER!" Link shouts.

With all of the encouragement, RAWR's Flamethrower was becoming stronger. The tables were turning, and RAWR was overpowering Bowser! "Wh-WHAT!? There's no WAY that YOU, a simple Pokémon, CAN BEAT ME!" Bowser roars, and puts more force into his fiery beam. However, it was futile. RAWR was nearly impossible to overpower.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAWR!" Suddenly, RAWR's fire reaches Bowser. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" Bowser roars, before a blast of fire hits him directly in the face. Upon impact, an enormous explosion took place, sending Bowser on his back once more!

The explosion was intense enough to make the trees in the Forest of Illusion shake ferociously. "Whoa!" Mario shouts as he shields his face from debris. He was amazed at the explosion, as it was also very flashy and colorful.

"…U-ughhhh… I… lose again." The giant Bowser mutters, as he passes out. Not only does he pass out, but he slowly shrinks back to his normal size. When this happens, Adelenn lets go of Link. "Okay, you're free from timeout. It's been five minutes." Adelenn attempts to say as if she was a mother. Link lowers his eyes in disappointment. "Uh… okay." Link mumbles.

Six of the heroes break into a dash towards the massive crater Bowser left behind when he was still large and in charge. Link tends to Lupo's wounds. In the middle of it was indeed the one and only King Koopa. Fortunately, he was still passed out.

Seconds later, Lupo was rejuvenated easily by Link. "Thanks, bud." Lupo compliments the Hero of Time. However, they take no time to fool around, and join the rest of the heroes beside Bowser.

They were clueless as for what to do to get the Crystal Sun firmly inside of Bowser's stomach. "Hmm… we can't really just cut him open and get the Crystal Sun… we gotta get him to spit it out forcibly." Link wonders. "But we can't… seriously wound him either, LINK." Patricia growls.

"I say we go ahead and feed him this pill." Vivian states, as she pulls out a big, red pill. "Not only do Red Pills work against Red Virus, they also are pretty good at making you regurgitate the last thing you ate." She explains some more. "Question; how did you get that pill? It was in my front pocket." Mario asks her.

"No, that's sure to hospitalize him. It's five days old." Lupo studies the pill. "Darn. No good." Geno angrily mumbles. "Oooh! Ooh! I know what to do!" Adelenn comes up with an idea. Everyone looks at her as she walks up to Bowser.

"…What did you have in mind, Adelenn?" Link wonders. As soon as he says that, she jams her arm right into Bowser's mouth. "We search for it!" Adelenn giggles as she tries to feel for the Crystal Sun. "Hehe, this wet stuff feels funny." She states. Everyone was frozen as they watch her. "May Rosalina bless you in the afterlife." Geno speaks in monotone as he takes off his hat.

Within a matter of seconds, she finds it. "GOT IT!" She shouts aloud. She clenches her fist, and pulls out the Crystal Sun. It was slimy, but still intact. "It's not shiny anymore... Awwww." Adelenn sighs with disappointment. Although the Crystal Sun was intact, it lost its brilliant shine because of Bowser's drool.

Link, with another Roc's Cape, wipes the drool off of the Crystal Sun. Easily, it regains its glow. Link holds it up high, and puts on an ecstatic expression. "DA DA DA DAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Link shouts into the air, his voice echoing through the destroyed forest. Patricia then strikes him across the face. "Shut it, stupid." Patricia growls with her teeth tightly clenched. "Alright, Alright... I guess I'll jus-"

And as soon as his guard went down, the Crystal Sun was snatched out of his hand. "...Or not." He moans. The figure that they saw was very fast, and was a pink blur of vision. "After her!" Mario commands the other seven, and they instantly run after the person.

Throughout the entire chase, the figure went back into Iggy's Castle through the exit, and exited through the entrance! That figure was also able to avoid activating ANY of the traps; the other heroes had to struggle to avoid getting caught in one. Later, she jumps across the entire gap of the lava river, where Adelenn had to create the ice bridge once more. It still fell apart as they walked across it.

"Wow, this person's quick. We gotta keep moving, though! She's about to use the Banzai Bill Blaster in the N Zone!" Geno shouts, out of breath from the serious running. Even worse was, the pink figure was closing in on the Banzai Bill Blaster.

However, Link wasn't having it. With a click of his shoes, his boots had winged attachments on them, along with having a bunny hood on his head. "HERE I COME! CHOOCHOOOOO!" Link shouts. When he runs, he rushes right past all of the heroes within a second! His speed increased by three times! "WHOA!" Patricia roars. "THAT'S INSANE!" She's never seen a human being run as fast as that before, even with speed enhancements.

With one single bound, Link is sent flying into the air, and lands right on top of the figure. "OOF!" It says. It sounded like a very mature woman. When Link looks at the figure, he notices that she has pink hair, and a ponytail that zigged and zagged. "H-hey! I'm trying to make a living here!" She shouts, struggling to get Link off of her.

Interestingly enough, she wore a black outfit similar to a Sammer, a warrior in Sammer's Kingdom who uses a katana. However, she possessed no katana. She wore wooden sandals with two rectangles as supports. They didn't make a sound when they were touching the ground. Not even a click. "You're a sneaky little brat, aren't you?" Link asks her.

"…I don't get how you're overpowering me. I am WAY older than you are, brat! I've been TRAINING for longer than you have!" She yells at the hero. Suddenly, she gained a burst of energy, and was able to lift up Link.

Link instantly puts her down again, though. "I guess you didn't train hard enough if you can't overpower me." Link sighs with sorrow. "Don't you diss m- WE-HE-HELLOOOOO THERE, HANDSOME!" The woman says aloud as she looks at Link. Link's eyes are directly at her face as well. "Someone's looking pret-ty snazzy here. Is it hot in here or is it just me?" Her face is lured towards Link's bright blue eyes. He puts on a confused face. "…Huh?" Link asks. The woman blushes and giggles.

"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Patricia harps angrily. "It's okay, Pat. I'm not gonna let her kiss me or anything." Link replies. "YOU BETTER NOT, OR I'MA PUNCH YOUR TEETH OUT!" She throws her blaster right at Link's face. "I just said she's not gonna smooch me!" Link yells at Patricia.

"Say… is that your sister or something? She seems really worried about you." The young woman says. Link was still focused on the woman. "You have the body of an eighteen year old… But I can tell that you're way past that age. So why don't you explain yourself…

"Demon Lord." Link commands the woman. The woman had a purple eye, but a purple eye only. It was glistening, and shinier than most diamonds. It was her left eye, which leaves her with a voided right eye, very much like Adelenn. She was taller than Adelenn, and seemed very well trained in the arts of the ninja.

"Oh well… it looks like I've been caught red-handed. Now if you get off of poor old me, which I really don't want you to, I'll tell you about me." The pink-haired woman attempts to persuade Link. "Or maybe you don't want to get off of me because you're so captivated by my bo-"

Instantly, Link gets off of the woman. "Don't get the wrong idea, thief." Link chastises the woman. "By the way, you're pretty good for a thief, Ms. Demon Lord. While you're at it, show us the wings you've concealed." Link commands. The woman was quite surprised at how much Link knew about the Demons.

"…I'm pretty sure you know that I'm not a Demon Child anymore… but how did you know I was a Demon Lord?" She asks as she fidgets around, pulling at her outfit in an attractive way. "Your mana output. It's a different wavelength. It's more menacing." Geno states. He is the most skilled at reading mana outputs, which is why he spoke up.

"Different? Different from WHAT!? TELL ME!" The Demon Lord pouts, causing injuries to the ground, and her wings to pop out of the slits in her outfit. They were the color of crimson, which is in itself a rare color to find in natural species. "Hmm… Interesting color." Mario states. "But back to what he was saying. Your mana output seems more menacing than Adelenn's mana output. Can you feel it?"

When the woman feels the mana output of Adelenn, she puts on a nervous expression. "…O-only one who's thousands of years old can achieve such a mana output. How old ARE you!?" The woman points at Adelenn.

Adelenn smiles happily. "I'm twenty-five!" She giggles.

The pink-haired Demon Lord was in shock. "N-… no way. Impossible! Only a Demon Lord who's been through life-threatening training can achieve such power! You… you're bluffing your age!" She points at Adelenn once again.

"Seriously, I'm twenty-five. I'm not even a Demon Lord yet! Just a regular Demon!" Adelenn states with a serious voice. "…But… your mana is so heart-warming and powerful… If you are truly as young as you say you are… I'm impressed." The Demon Lord replies.

For a moment, there was silence. The thief took a deep breath, and explained the situation. "…Alright, you got me. I'll tell you about myself." She winks at Link, who takes a step back in confusion. "I am Jaraberutzu Akira, master thief and the only Demon Lord that has mastered the double Kusarigama, or better known as the bladed chain. I use these for every single one of my robberies. I don't fight anyone with them unless someone is looking for a fight." She states.

"I may look like I'm eighteen years old, but in reality, I am 666 years old. Only three of my robberies have been failures, including this one." She growls at the end of her sentence. "Wow, you're pretty experienced then, aren't you?" Lupo wonders. Jaraberutzu nods her head. "Yep. I looooove money. It's shiny and useful! I don't buy a lot except food, though." She replies.

"But there's also these really nifty clothes that you can find everywhere! So beautiful! I always buy that kind of stuff! It makes me feel pretty!" She starts to have a sudden flash in her eyes, the kind of look that makes a girl want to do something. Adelenn was in denial though. "B-but your clothes don't have any pictures or anything on it! How does it make you feel pretty?" She points at the outfit.

"All you need to do is take a look at my body and you'll figure out. I bet the red capped one will understand. Hmmhmm!" Jaraberutzu poses attractively and winks at Mario, who gulps. "…Please refrain from doing that…" Mario kindly asks. "…Mario, I don't get it." Adelenn whispers in Mario's ear. He just shrugs.

Vivian clenches her fists in anger, and pulls Mario away. "Continue." Vivian growls. Jaraberutzu nods. "As you may know, most Demons are abandoned only days after their birth. They learn to fend for themselves. I was one of those Demon Children roughly six hundred seventy years ago. So, I took to stealing. When I became rich from this, I believed that I was spoiling myself. Now, I steal only to help charities. I leave only a tiny bit to myself. Enough to feed me and pay the stupid taxes."

Link lowers his eyebrows. "Oh, so you don't just steal for yourself. Seems like a good deed, but it won't excuse you from stealing that Crystal Sun." Link states. "Oh! That reminds me, big boy! What did you want it for, anyway? Just looks like profit from my eyes." Jaraberutzu asks while she blushes.

"It's a Crystal Sun. They currently act as keys to a giant door in that cloud near Rogueport. We have no clue what's behind it. Getting that Crystal Sun may be our ticket. There's ten of them, and we have three." Geno explains. "Once we get the other seven, we can get through that door, and see what's inside. However, we've run into problems."

"Deaths. They're evil. Each one so far has a Crystal Sun. They all intend to open the door by themselves, which is pretty disorganized of them. They don't seem to be the type to work together. Adelenn here is the Death of Fear. Number Two. She willingly gave us Sunny Day, the Red Crystal Sun." Jaraberutzu looks as though she understands. "But… wouldn't that make her your enemy!? She may be deceiving you!" She points at Adelenn.

Geno steps up. "Adelenn doesn't even know what a pencil is. She can't and won't decieve us, nor does she have the need to." Geno protects Adelenn from the accusation. Jaraberutzu smiles. "Well, someone's a smarty-pants. I love those kinds of guys." She giggles and winks at Geno, who looks at Adelenn. "Uh… I thought I was the one who winks at Geno!" Adelenn balls up her hands, while holding Geno's.

"For the Death of Fear, you don't look very scary. Are you a fluke?" Jaraberutzu assumes. Adelenn nods her head. "No! I can scare people! Watch!" She takes as offense to her title. She raises her arms, extends her wings, and elongates her terrifying words. "BOOOOO! I AM AN EVIL… Uh… EEVEE! TREMBLE IN FEAR!" Her voice wavers purposely in order to "scare" Jaraberutzu.

"Not buying it." She sucks her teeth to make a quite annoying sound. "But, let's see… if you can hit me before I pull out my weapon, you win!" Jaraberutzu states.

She quickly regrets it as Adelenn punches her into the nearest tree, which was 100 feet away. There was no telling that she was going to strike. When she landed, she felt extreme pain like never before. "YAY! I WIN! I WIN! I WIIIIIN!"Adelenn sings, as she hops and skips around Geno. "GENO! I WON. WHAT DID I WIN!?" She gazes into Geno's red eyes. "I dunno... maybe a cookie or something." He replies as he tries to avoid another death hug.

"Oooooh, a cookie! Did I win a cookie, Jaraberutzu!?" Adelenn claps her hands together, hoping for a snack to eat. "Oi. As dumb as a doorknob, huh?" Jaraberutzu asks herself as she fixes her hair. It was getting straight, which she doesn't like. Her ponytail is always in a zig-zag. She then tosses a large cookie right at Adelenn. "YAAAY!" Adelenn shrieks as she devours the cookie.

'That thing is two weeks old.' Jaraberutzu thinks to herself. "I like you guys. Maybe you'll help me get a hundred thousand Mushroom Kingdom coins for the food charity I'm trying to save. BeanBean Coins are useless, and coins aren't as easy to steal these days." She sighs. Mario glares at her for a moment. "Hmm… I can tell that you don't lie. I'm glad that you're very honest. We can trust you." Mario smiles. "Just don't steal anything from civilians, okay?"

"Yeah! Stealing from good people is for boogey-heads and evil kings!" Adelenn pouts. "Don't be a boogey-head and we can all be best friends with you!" Jaraberutzu laughs at Adelenn's silly comment. "Teehee… you're just like a little kid. I promise that I won't be a boogey-head." Jaraberutzu nods her head and bows respectfully.

"Wow… another partner. We have nine already! We're so close to uniting all of the ten heroes!" Vivian states. "RAWR!" RAWR agrees. He's excited to have so many friends on his journey to the Thousand-Year Door in the Sky.

"Okay… you are officially a member of the group!" Mario happily states, and shakes Jaraberutzu's hand. "Gladly. I'm sure I'll work well with you… teehee. And I hope you know what I meeeean!" Jaraberutzu giggles softly.

'Uh oh.' Mario gulps.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN END.


	19. 18: Spooky Surprises

Chapter Eighteen: Spooky Surprises

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 2

Almost an entire day has passed, and Rosalina has not seen the heroes since their departure to Dinosaur Island. She hasn't been able to sense them, due to the Forest of Illusion's mana-suppressing mist. She was actually worried for the heroes. She was so nervous in fact, that all she could do was pace around the observatory endlessly, gritting her brilliant white teeth together in anxiety.

To make matters worse, dark clouds surrounded the Observatory, which Rosalina took as a bad omen. Whenever she is upset or worried, the weather will change on its own. She doesn't control it directly, but sub-consciously. "I have never been this worried in my life. I have become so attached to those seven. It may not be a bad thing, but I still worry for their safety. I hope that they will come back safely, despite this terrible omen." Rosalina sighs deeply, as she slumps down into her couch.

"Mama… I hope that you will guide me through this dark, personal hour of mine… please ease my suffering, for even a small moment… I will surely appreciate it." Rosalina mumbles sadly, as she prays towards the Grand Star of this galaxy's sector. Whenever Rosalina was in such a nervous and uncertain state, she'd always preach to her mother, whom she looks up to, to this very day. Her whereabouts have been unknown since Rosalina rightfully assumed the title of the goddess of the universe, which took place billions of years ago, beyond recorded history.

Then, Rosalina sees a slight sparkle from the direction of the Grand Star. "Hmm? That is in the direction of Dinosaur Island…" She speaks to herself. She sits up from the couch, and looks toward the sparkles of light that reflected in the night sky. "…Interesting, The Nova Galaxy does not sparkle until the start of summer." She states to herself. "Something else is approaching."

In the distance, Rosalina could hear the sound of a young woman shrieking in excitement. She was in a thrilled state, and wouldn't stop squealing due to joy. "Oh! It must be my friends. I shall wait for them here." Rosalina quickly stands up, and carefully walks to the middle of the Observatory. She presses a button on the command deck, and a large airbag slowly rises from a rising platform. The airbag was meant to catch the heroes, in case they couldn't handle the extremeness of the fall.

Rosalina stands right next to the airbag, and awaits for the heroes to arrive patiently. The voice was getting louder, and was paired with other screams. It was a sure sign that someone was arriving. Rosalina beamed with happiness, as a smile arose on her beautiful face. Although she was very patient, she couldn't wait for the heroes to come back.

Then, she heard one particular voice VERY clearly.

"AUNT ROSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The voice shouts, as the person that it belonged to directly hits Rosalina with such a powerful velocity. Both Rosalina and the person rolled a far distance, before stopping shortly before hitting the Fountain Dome. Surely enough, Rosalina knew who it was.

Adelenn. "Hi, Aunt Rosa! We came back with the Crystal Sun! This one is greeeeen!" She shouts happily as she continues to hug Rosalina with a deadly force. Rosalina, without much effort, gets back on her feet, and hugs Adelenn back. "You are safe, my children! I am glad that you made it unharmed! Rosalina exclaims with incomprehensible joy. She didn't want to let go of Adelenn, in fear that she and the other heroes might endanger their own lives again.

Rosalina sheds a small tear. "I am so sorry that I sent you and your friends into such a dangerous island without any kind of support. I must be a terrible aunt." Her voice wavers, and her face reddens due to sensory overload. She strokes Adelenn's hair softly, and continues to shed more silent tears. "Awww, it's alright, Aunt Rosa. We were built to handle these kinds of problems! We'll make sure that Aunt Rosa and her babies don't ever get hurt or sad!" Adelenn sympathizes for poor Rosalina.

A few seconds after, the other eight heroes make a dash towards Rosalina. "Raaaaawr!" RAWR greets Rosalina. "It's-a us!" Mario waves his hand. Lupo joins him. "Hey, we're back!" Vivian states, waving her scarf in the air for Rosalina to see. Link was holding Patricia on his back, and he waves. "Heyoooo!" Link hoots. "LET GO OF ME, YOU!" Patricia roars while continually beating him with her blaster, which deemed itself to be useless. This catches Rosalina's attention easily, and she laughs heartily.

Finally, Geno and Jaraberutzu arrive, and Geno waves his hands wildly so that Her Majesty Rosalina could see. He bows as soon as they make eye contact, which puts yet another smile on Rosalina. She then notices Jaraberutzu, the hero that she has not seen yet.

"Ah, so you are all fine and well. It appears as though you have acquired a new friend." Rosalina calmly says, stopping herself from crying any longer. She takes a small breath of air before continuing. "And what is your name, young one?" she asks the Demon Lord.

For some reason, Jaraberutzu felt a sort of intimidation, but couldn't grasp the reason why. Rosalina was appearing to be kind and friendly. 'Hmm… I guess I'll just tell her.' She thinks to herself.

"I'm Jaraberutzu Akira, Void Demon Lord. At your service... Um…" Jaraberutzu stammers for a moment, not knowing the name of the person she is speaking with. "Rosalina, my dear. Do not worry, I am helping your friends by providing a place where they may find enlightenment and shelter from the elements. Do not be afraid about repaying my offer, for I am not asking for anything back in return." Rosalina smiles.

She quickly turns around to inform Adelenn. "My dear! I finished washing your dress recently. It is in the Bedroom! How about you put it back on before you do anything else?" Rosalina shouts from the distance. Adelenn's bright red eye opens widely. "It is?! I'm gonna go get it now! Don't leave yet, Aunt Rosa!"

Adelenn's wing extends, and Adelenn begins to run towards the Bedroom Dome as if she was a track runner. Her wing allows her to jump several hundred feet across the air without even touching the floor. "WHEEEEE!" She shouts and giggles happily. It was a new trick that Adelenn just came up with at the current moment. Mario watches as she does this. "…Whoa… that's pretty neat." Mario says in monotone.

Jaraberutzu merely scoffs at this. "I mean… I can fly and stuff. Doing that seems to be useless since I have two BEAUTIES right on my back (and my front, too!)." She states, referring to her crimson wings. Jaraberutzu has two wings rather than one, therefore allowing her to soar into the sky, rather than skip across large amounts of land.

"Yeah… that reminds me… she has only one wing." Mario ponders, looking to the right to recall anything he's heard. "Hmmm… Does the other wing grow in later?"

Jaraberutzu shakes her head. "Only seconds apart from the first. If it doesn't appear before then… I'm not sure what it means. My only guess is that she's been heavily mutated, and something stopped her from growing the other wing." She explains. Mario opens his eyes for a moment. '…Mutated…?' He thinks to himself.

"That's all I know on the matter. I'm pretty sure that's it." Jaraberutzu lies, immediately looks to her left, and looks back at Mario. 'He mustn't know.' Jaraberutzu thinks to herself.

"Hey, can you let go of me, Link?" Patricia calmly asks him. "You don't always have to hold my arm."

Link frowns. "B-but if something strange is going on, I gotta make sure you're alright!" He replies very rapidly. Patricia also frowns, but with a disappointed expression fully displaying itself. "You just like to touch my arms because they're soft, don't you?" She asks menacingly.

"W-what? Where in the world did you get THAT from!? Hehe…" Link laughs nervously, trying to escape the argument. Patricia lowers her eyes and whacks Link in the head with her free hand. "At least get to the point when you wanna compliment me." She calmly states again. "Stop fighting, you two, or else Lupo's gonna have to tie you both up." Geno growls in annoyance.

"Hehe…" Lupo giggles. It was quite a relief for the heroes that they were back on the nice, warm observatory once again. It was indeed, a true sensation of joy. "Rawr…" RAWR quietly barks as he lays down on the grass and falls into a deep sleep. He was tired from exerting tons of energy into defeating Bowser. He felt the need to sleep anyway. Vivian floats right next to him, and she pets him on the forehead. "You did great, buddy." She whispers. After a minute, she leaves him alone.

In that same minute, Adelenn was done changing, and was in her brilliant, purple dress once again. It was much brighter than before, since it was just cleaned. The ruby in her chest was even shinier than the last time, as well. Also, it was not tattered on the bottom anymore. Rosalina went through the extra trouble of sewing the clothes back to perfection.

"Look, guys! These clothes are super-clean now! I must've been a really good girl, because Santa fixed them for me!" Adelenn states. The last thing she remembered seeing was a large Luma inside of a red suit, even though it was nothing relatable to Santa Claus. Santa Claus was busy working on his new sleigh.

"…It's the middle of spring. Santa doesn't appear until Rosalina's birthday." Geno sighs. Rosalina's birthday always took place on the 25th of Month Monty, which was the last month of the year. Anyone who preaches to her cause fully understands this.

"Well, Santa was working in there, so I asked him for something!" Adelenn puts her hands up in the air. "…What did you ask him for?" Link wonders. "I asked him for a nice doll of me so that I can give to Aunt Rosa!" She replies. Lupo couldn't help but smile. "Awwww, that's so cute! I can't believe you'd do something like that, Adelenn!" Lupo pats her head softly. Adelenn beams with joy when this happens.

LATER…

The nine heroes, including Rosalina, each enter the Sky Sanctum, and pass through the two large Sun Doors. When they meet the pedestals, Mario instinctively takes out the Green Crystal Sun. "So, I figured out its name. It's called Gas Giant." Mario explains. Geno puts on a puzzled, yet interested look on his face. "So now you're able to detect the name of these Crystal Suns? Impressive. I would've never thought about that." Geno smiles.

"So… this is where you place the Crystal Suns…" Rosalina looks around carefully. The place is quite mystical to her, but she has never seen it before. "The beings of this world are peeking my interest more and more." She says towards Adelenn. She merely shrugs. "Look, Aunt Rosa. You see those rock things. That's where we're supposed to place the Crystal Suns!" She pulls on Rosalina's dress. Rosalina acknowledges by patting her head. "I see, my dear." She replies back.

Without any hesitation, Mario places the new Crystal Sun on the green pedestal, where it should be. Like all of the other ones, it glows to a steady beat. Seconds later, it glows rapidly, and a beam of light from the sky shoots downward, onto the Crystal Sun. A harsh light falls onto all of the heroes, including Rosalina. "Whoa!" Jaraberutzu exclaims, bewildered by the event currently being seen. "It's pretty, right?" Adelenn smiles, as she continues to focus on the light.

Vivian takes out her Tattle Log and takes out the Magical Map. She throws it to Mario, who catches it flawlessly once again. He throws his hands into the air, along with the Magical Map. "Here we go!" He shouts with sheer pride.

This causes the sky to shoot another beam at the Magical Map. The Crystal Sun and the Magical Map glow in synchronization once more. With another flash of light, the Magical Map and the Crystal Sun stop glowing.

Jaraberutzu, who was squinting her eye, finally yields her arm. "That was some light-show, wasn't it?" She jokingly asks. Patricia nods. "Owwie… My eyes hurt from that. My radar's also messed up." Patricia groans, holding her head. Unlike her, Link was missing the lights, and wanted to see more. "That was too short." He says with a frown.

A few seconds later, Mario brings down his hands, and looks at the Magical Map.

On it, he could see an orange Crystal Sun, located a few miles South of Rogueport. It was depicted to be a large, spooky house with menacing eyes on it. The lights were yellow. The windows were oriented in such a way that the house looked as if it had… a face.

Mario was disappointed at this. "Not this place again… Mama Mia." Mario sighs. He's been to the place before, and that is exactly what everybody assumes about him. "What's the matter, Mario?" Lupo asks him, putting her hand on his shoulder, and reading over the Magical Map.

"I hate to say this… but we're gonna have to go back to this place again." Mario says, completely focused on the map. Adelenn was confused. "Huh? What place!? Is it fun?" Adelenn asks. Mario shakes his head. "No, it's FAR from fun. The place we're going to is…"

"Luigi's Mansion." Mario replies while taking a deep breath.

Geno's eyes open wide. "Wait… do you mean that very SAME mansion that King Boo set up to trap you?" He asks. Mario nods. "Yes. A month ago, we realized that it never disappeared. It was always there. For some reason, it was also the same day that I defeated Antasma with my bro, Luigi." Mario replies.

"Why do you recall such a moment when the two are not relatable?" Rosalina asks calmly, and all Mario could do was shrug. "I don't know, my lady." He asserts.

Rosalina's eyebrows lower, and she squints her eyes. "Hmm… I see. But for now, if we must do anything, it must be to find a way for you nine to travel from Rogueport and to the mansion of your dear brother. Follow me, and we will attempt to find a solution."

LATER THAT DAY…

"I have found a possible solution to our dilemma." Rosalina exclaims to the heroes, who were all eating some grilled cheese sandwiches in the main halls. While most of them ate only one or two, Adelenn devoured at least seven with ease. When she hears Rosalina's voice, she stops eating.

"You did!? Cool!" Adelenn yells aloud with her mouth full of melted cheese. Jaraberutzu stands up. "Great! What did you find, Rosalina?" She politely asks.

Rosalina puts on a glowing smile. "I have just contacted the Master Hand to connect a Warp Pipe from the Super Smash Brothers Guild Hall to this observatory. There, you may use a Warp Pipe leading to your brother's mansion." She explains. "Woohoo!" Mario shouts. "That was kind of Master Hand." Vivian mentions. "Indeed it was." Geno also says. "Rawr." RAWR agrees.

"The way I contacted him was… primitive, though." Rosalina eventually frowns. "I had to contact him with a device that a Toad or other intelligent beings would use. It is called a… cellular phone." She explains. Mario puts on a confused look. "No, Rosalina. Cell phones aren't primitive! Normal people use them because they cannot speak through telepathy." Lupo shouts. Rosalina now understands what they were for.

"What's a 'phone'?" Adelenn asks, while in the position of a handstand. She lets her dress fall down, displaying her scarred legs. Geno shakes his head in disapproval. "First, your undergarments are showing. Second, cell phones are a new technology that Comm Inc. has created. They allow you to talk to people anywhere, even if they're not next to you." Geno says.

"So that means I can talk to you, Mr. Falcon, Link, Mario and Aunt Rosa whenever I want to!?" Adelenn brings up her brilliant white smile while still upside down. Patricia nods. "Yep. It's really nifty in case you're in danger." She states. "But they're very expensive. They're sold for about 4,000 Coins!" Vivian mentions. "…That's why I don't have one."

"I'm gonna get one, then! Everyone will want to use it, and then I'll let people use it and be nice to them!" Adelenn tries to clap her hands together while in a handstand, and ends up falling right on her head. Geno picks her up by the waist, and puts her back on her feet.

"…Not now. Later." Geno says to her. "Jaraberutzu… you ready to see what it's like to be a hero?" He directs his question towards the other Demon.

"…I… guess?" She says, uncertain of where this conversation was leading. "Well, if you're not, then get ready, cuz we're about to go to one of the most dangerous places in the world… Luigi's Mansion. He states.

Immediately after, a Platinum Warp Pipe emerges from the soft ground in the Cosmic Observatory. Patricia smirks. "Huh, there's our ticket. C'mon, guys. Let's go before Master Hand changes his mind." She says. Everyone nods their heads and enters the Warp Pipe, one by one. All of the other heroes, except Adelenn, immediately enter. Adelenn lags behind just a little bit.

She turns around to look at Rosalina. She takes her hand and waves. "See ya later, Aunt Rosa! We'll be back soon! Don't worry this time, cuz I promised to get you an Adelenn doll for your birthday!" She exclaims. Rosalina looks up, completely focused on Adelenn. She had no idea about what to say.

"…Thank you, my child. I shall see you very soon." Rosalina replies, and waves her hand back at Adelenn. "Bye bye!" Adelenn jumps into the Warp Pipe, and warps towards the Guild Hall.

"What a sweet girl Adelenn is…" Rosalina speaks to herself. "…even though it is nowhere near my birthday."

LATER…

Yo, Ike! Get me juice, bro! I'm DYING of thirst!" Says the familiar voice of Captain Falcon, who's been drinking several juice boxes for the past half-hour. He has a severe headache, which makes him believe that drinking juice should help alleviate the pain.

In reality, it makes it worse, but these juice boxes were made specifically for headaches, since they were made by doctors. "Ugh… it's such a drag that I got this headache." Captain Falcon complains. Ike merely laughs. "Well, that's what happens when you decide to take a Final Smash from Samus right into the forehead, dummy! Hahahahaha!" Ike says. Captain Falcon simply exchanges an upset look with Ike.

"P-paiyooo." Kirby squeaks. He felt a familiar presence just a second ago. It was a shaking motion, one that was obviously the motion of a Warp Pipe. Kirby looks around to see where it may emerge.

Unfortunately for the pink hero, it was right below him. "PAIIIIIII!" He squeals as he is sent flying upwards into the ceiling by yet another Warp Pipe. "Holy mother of cows!" Captain Falcon begins to shout himself, and crushes his juice box. "Not this again. I just got those floors fixed." Ike moans.

From the Warp Pipe, all nine heroes emerged nearly at once. "HEYOOO!" Link, Geno and Mario all say simultaneously while saluting towards the Guild Hall. "Heeeeey!" Vivian and Lupo shout while posing. Next, RAWR jumps out of the Warp Pipe with Patricia. "YO!" She says. "RAWR!" He barks.

Next came Jaraberutzu, who poses attractively. "Hey, there." She blushes. The men at the Guild Hall whistle due to this, except for Ike and Captain Falcon, who just stare at her.

Last came Adelenn, who leaps into the air, and stomps at the ground with much force, causing a massive crater in the middle of the shop. "HI, GUYS!" She waves her arms around frantically, grabbing the attention of the Guild members once again.

The entire guild was deadly silent after this. A few seconds later, they went back to what they were doing. "Hey, hey, hey. It's Mario!" Ike shouts from across the Guild Hall. "And Link, too!" Captain Falcon states.

They all walk towards each other, and shake hands. "What's up, bros?" Captain Falcon asks. Link and Mario nod. "Nothing much." Mario replies. Link steps up to speak. "Patricia was so awesome today! She fought a Koopaling and was kicking his butt! You know how tough they are!" Link builds up satisfaction from Patricia's hard work.

Patricia takes of her Helmet Siren and shakes her head, releasing all of the sweat from her rigorous efforts in the past few days. Her dirty blonde hair was very greasy, and it felt like butter in Link's hand, and the reason why he became so fascinated with greasy hair is because of Patricia, who had the best and greasiest hair in the world.

"Yeah, Koopalings are pretty tough for monst- stop touching my hair, Link." Patricia grits her teeth in response to Link running his hand across her greasy hair. "B-but it's so greasy and cool!" Link replies. "Stop, or you'll never get a chance to feel it again." Patricia says. Link backs off immediately afterwards.

"Was Link behaving?" Ike asks Patricia directly. She shakes her head. "As much as I want to say yes… not really. He acted up twice during different fights. He almost killed Bowser today because he nearly killed Lupo. We had to restrain him." She explains.

Captain Falcon shakes his head, too. "Well, I guess it couldn't be helped. Link, I know you tried your best to stay calm. Don't worry about Master Hand berating you." He says. Link frowns. "Oh, okay." Link mumbles.

Suddenly, a giant white hand punches Link directly, and with incredible force. However, Link did not move at all. Of course, it was Master Hand, trying to greet Link in an awkward way. "My goodness, Link. You need to stop working out so much." Master Hand says. "You could've hurt me had you punched with all of your power." Link replies. Master Hand gestures in a way that makes it look like he understands.

"…Acceptable answer, but even if I suppressed your power, you could fight evenly with me." He shouts. Although he had no face (he's a giant hand), his voice sounds as if he has a proud expression on. "Anyway, I answered Lady Rosalina's phone call. She requested that I make a Warp Pipe for you. Is this true, Mario?" He asks the red plumber.

He nods his head. "Yes. We need a Warp Pipe to Luigi's Mansion. Can you help us?" Mario asks politely. "…I shall help you eight… but who is that behind you? She is shaking in her boots." He points at Jaraberutzu, who was immobilized by the sight of Master Hand.

"Wh-whoa… a floating hand…" Jaraberutzu mumbles quietly. Even though she tried to keep cool, her legs wouldn't stop shaking. "I-I've… Come on, Jara. A floating hand is not intimidating! I've fought giant monsters, other Demons! I-I've fought… Eyeballs that shoot beams of energy! I can't let a hand scare me!" She mumbles under her breath.

Master Hand still heard her. "Don't worry, I'm not an enemy. At first, everyone who's enlisted to join this guild thought the exact same thing, even Link." Master Hand explains. "So, what are you doing with these eight?"

"Adelenn is our newest, bestest friend, Mr. Handy! We were best friends when we caught her stealing something! She was sorry, and joined us!" Adelenn throws her arms out. "Pssst, don't tell her that I know that she likes to eat cheese sandwiches." She whispers towards Master Hand. "…I can hear you." Jaraberutzu squints her eye.

"On a related note…" Master Hand continues. "There was never a need to create one. Luigi's Mansion is already a stage that the guild fights on. You've seen it before!" Mario could do nothing more but agree. "Yes, we have." Link steps up. "I… guess that's how we are gonna get there now." Vivian whispers to Lupo. "Yeah, I guess so." Lupo replies with a whisper.

With a snap of Master Hand's fingers, a Warp Pipe emerges from the ground. It was Green, and had ghosts on it. "…I hope you know what you nine are doing. Luigi's Mansion isn't vacant anymore… ghosts have started to take shelter in it. Be careful." Master Hand warns the heroes.

"Rawr! RAWR RAWR!" RAWR barks at Master Hand, and smiles. "RAWR says thank you!" Adelenn states. Master Hand gives a giant thumbs up. "No problem, kids. Now get going before I change my mind. Hurry along!" He says. Patricia nods. "Aye! We're on it." She shouts as she grabs Link by the ear. "Hey hey hey hey HEY! That hurts, Pat!" He yelps. "Aww, your ears are sensitive? You poor baby." She grins, squeezing his ear further. "Grrrr… I'm SO gonna get you for this…" He growls.

Link, being dragged by Patricia, enters the Warp Pipe with her. Vivian, Jaraberutzu and Lupo enter next, immediately jumping in. "RAWR!" RAWR barks, jumping straight into the Warp Pipe.

Adelenn suddenly picks up Geno, and holds him tightly to her chest. "Let's go, Geno! To a SPOOKY FUN HOUSE!" She yells. "Mmmfff." He tries to speak, but couldn't speak due to his face being held to Adelenn's large chest. She jumps down the Warp Pipe.

Before he enters the Warp Pipe, he turns around to look at Captain Falcon and Ike. "Okay, guys. When we get back, I'll make sure to get some Chateau Romani from the bar. It's on me." Mario states. Captain Falcon and Ike smile. "Sounds good, dude. Make sure to come back, or else someone else has to pay for that milk!" Captain Falcon shouts. "Be careful." Ike calmly asserts.

"HERE WE GO!" Mario shouts proudly, and jumps into the Warp Pipe.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN END.


	20. 19: Luigi's Ghost Mansion

Chapter Nineteen: Luigi's Ghost Mansion

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 2

It was unnaturally dark. Darker than most alleyways are on a cold, winter night. There was a lack of any life besides the trees, which looked dead on their own. The weather was as bone-chilling as the atmosphere. One would say that it was taking frigid to the next level. Indeed, it was THAT cold.

The reason why it was so dark was because of the ghastly curse set upon such scary things. It ensures a place ravaged by thunderstorms and heavy rain. It was almost unsuitable for living, since people would not be able to go outside very much.

In the distance pops out a Green Warp Pipe from the soft soil of this area. The heroes surely pop out of it, one by one. Adelenn, Geno, Lupo, Link, Patricia, RAWR, Jaraberutzu, Vivian and Mario exit the Warp Pipe, and in this order.

The first thing that was heard by the heroes was a strike of lightning very close to them, which then produces the sound of thunder. It makes poor Adelenn jump. "Eeeek! Scary weather!" She shouts, trying to hide behind Geno. He tries his best to calm her down. "Don't worry, Adelenn. It's not like you'd die if it hit YOU." He states. Adelenn calms down for a moment.

"Ah, this is definitely the place." Mario says with his arms on his hips, his back turned against the heroes. Patricia was skeptical. "Are you SURE this is the place? It feels like a cemetery, more than anything else." She asks, as she wipes the sweat off of her forehead. This gives Link the opportunity to grab her greasy hair once more.

"Heh, this is DEFINITELY the place! Look over there!" Link points with his right hand towards the place Mario was looking at, and his left is occupied with running across Patricia's gorgeous hair.

What they see is quite spine-tingling. It is a giant mansion. It was large enough to fit three normal-sized houses inside of it. The mansion's windows glow an eerie yellow, and every few seconds, the heroes could see a ghoul or two looking out through the window. The walls were plated with green panels of wood from birch trees.

The Mansion's main windows, however, were bent in such a way that gives the mansion some sort of eyes. They were menacing to even look at, and it sent chills down Lupo and Vivian. "Creeeeepy!" They both say simultaneously.

"They're coming to the mansion." An orange ghost whispers.

"They want us to come out of the mansion." A blue ghost whispers in a different window.

"But we want them to come in." A green ghost also whispers.

"Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come." They were chanting from all of the several windows. There were more ghosts, and even some Boos. They were quietly banging onto the windowsills, as if they were drumming.

Adelenn was surprisingly unafraid of these creatures. She puts Geno down and points at them. "Listen, you ghosties! I command you… to open the front doors. Or I'll give you ALL a timeout!" She commands, awaiting for them to listen to her.

The ghosts all froze in place. They showed only a blank expression on their faces as they stare into Adelenn's dark soul. "W-whoa. What did you do?" Jaraberutzu stutters. She's seen ghosts before, but never has she seen them frozen in such a state. "Rwwrrrrr…" RAWR growls, ready to strike the ghosts if they decide to attack without warning. His flames rise, which increases their heat as well.

Suddenly, the front doors open. "Enter, our Demon Queen… your majesty… your royal highness of the darkness… we were awaiting your arrival." A ghost whispers, but is barely audible. "Enter, friends of the Demon Queen. The master of our mansion kindly requests your presence in the Foyer." Says another red ghost, who opens the front doors, which creaked with even the slightest opening.

Mario was speechless. Geno opens his eyes widely. "…Did they seriously just call you Demon Queen?" He looks at Adelenn carefully, looking at any changes to her body physically. He found nothing. "…Nope! I just like it when my ghost pals call me Demon Queen! It makes me feel special!" Adelenn giggles innocently, and Geno sighs in relief.

'That wasn't funny at all.' Jaraberutzu thinks to herself. 'Demon Queens are really scary! There's no way ADELENN could be this millennia's Demon Queen. She's not even a hint scary!" Jaraberutzu looks at the ghosts and watches them giggle eerily before they disappear.

"We know what you're thinking… You are also awaiting to serve the Demon Queen." Another ghost says. "Don't worry… you'll find out soon enough. Heheheheheeeeee…"

Link and Patricia immediately run into the mansion, so that Patricia's robotic parts wouldn't short-circuit in the rain. "Woo! We're gonna enter a mansion! Cooool!" Link shouts as he runs with Patricia. "This place is giving me the creeps. Let's hurry inside!" She tells Link.

The others walk casually, as they enter the mouth of Luigi's Mansion. Inside, they were immediately greeted by coat hangers on both sides of the door. Mario, Geno, Patricia, Lupo and Link all take off their hats and hang them on the coat hangers.

The coat hangers laugh obnoxiously. "Heeheehee! That tickles, you!" One says to Link, who jumps back to make sure it wasn't an enemy. "This mansion is just as tricky as it was last time, only that every little trick is different." He growls angrily. "I always hated this stage."

The heroes look around the Foyer. It separated the first and the second floors with two separate flights of stairs, leading to other parts of the enormous mansion. A red carpet laid across the entire Foyer, and up to the flight of stairs, and to the first floor.

Mario was trying to decide where to go first. "Hmm… Checking the second and third floors would be easier, but we'd be able to cover more ground on the first floor. The basement is gone, from what I can tell…" Mario mumbles to himself, as the others just watch.

Adelenn decides to go forward. "To the first floor we go!" She shouts loudly as she hops and skips toward the nearest hallway.

"VAAAAIT! NOT YET! SKREEP!" A voice echoes, filling the entire room with the sound of an ear-piercing screech. Everyone seemed to jump at this. "Whoa whoa whoa, WHOA! Where did that come from?" Patricia squints, pulling out her Mighty Shot. Link also pulls out his Master Sword. "Come out, you!" He growls.

Suddenly, a cute little bat appears from the ground. It was just a face with yellow eyes, a very carnivorous smile, and wings. It flies up to Link's face and stares at him for a moment. "Hey, this bat is kinda cool." He says in response.

However, there were more of these cute little bats. They all screech at the same tone, and were coming together, at the same spot. There were hundreds of them, and they were all fusing together. This was causing wind to rupture and blow into everyone's faces. The heroes instinctively shield their eyes from debris.

From the same spot, there lays a heap of darkness. It was glowing eerily, and it starts to rise. It then begins to take a form. It looks as if it was a giant figure who was wrapped around a huge, purple cape. Its body was completely black, yet it also held a tie around his neck. It had no legs, either. It retains its bright, yellow eyes and its sharp teeth.

It bows to the heroes in an effort to greet them. "Velcome, my friends, to Antasmansion! Ve are here to guide lost souls to shelter, comvort, and-"

It stops when it sees Mario. "V-v… VHAT?!" It shouts, and immediately transforms its mouth into a frown. Mario also gasps. "W-WHAT!?" He shouts back at the large creature.

They exchange some of the dirtiest looks known to man, as they were staring deeply into each other's eyes with fuming anger. They suddenly both point at each other. "YOU ARE HERE!?" They shout at the same time, causing the room to rumble with noise. "H-hey! Lightweight, do something!" Lupo commands Geno, who was on the floor. "I can't right now!" He says, throwing his arms in front of him. Adelenn was completely fascinated by the conflict, and starts to laugh. "Heeheehee! Look! The giant guy's getting mad!" She points.

"…Antasma." Mario growls. "…Mario." The creature known as Antasma growls back. A second after, Antasma pulls back. Mario was actually surprised by this, as Antasma would have normally attacked him. "…You have brought to me a child of pure darkness. Vhere is it?" He sniffs the air, and automatically detects who it is.

"SKREEP! So it is the young maiden that you brought vith you." He smiles evilly, looking at Adelenn. "Normally, I would try to eat you and gain your pover, but you are too poverful. Be lucky that I am lenient."

"Wait, I thought I do the eating! Nobody can eat before Aunt Rosa eats! I always call the seconds, too!" She suddenly pouts. Link nervously looks at her. "I'm sure he's not talking about other food." He sighs.

Suddenly, she knows what Antasma was talking about. "Wait! You can't eat me! Aunt Rosa says I'm too nice to be eaten, cuz she told me she was gonna eat me, and then she said she just couldn't!" She spews while gesturing wildly. Antasma understood very little of what she said. "Adelenn… just leave this to us." Patricia says.

"On an unrelated note… vhy are you and your vriends here?" Antasma directly asks Mario. "We're here to look for an Orange Crystal Sun. Basically, it's a sphere with large, sharp points floating out of it. It's located somewhere in this mansion. Is it alright if we may look?" Mario asks.

Antasma takes his clawed hand and pauses for a moment. "Hmm… I find it to be no concern of mine… but fine. Don't expect a kiss from me later." Antasma evilly chuckles. "…I don't roll that way." Mario replies. "NEITHER DO I!" Antasma screeches back.

Regardless, Antasma throws a set of keys with a keychain, directly towards Geno, who catches it easily. "These are the keys to the virst vloor. Check there. See vhat you can vind in there." He grumbles. Patricia keeps an eye on him. "I'm watching you, pal. No funny business." Patricia growls. Link just eyes the both of them and continues to walk with the others to the first floor hallway.

Adelenn shortly lags behind. "W-wait for me!" Adelenn shouts. Antasma laughs deeply. "You can't hide it vorever, you see. Your true potential is still asveep in you. Run along to your vriends, but know that you are destined vor greater things. Goodbye." Antasma whispers.

"…What?" Adelenn replies, not understanding of Antasma's choice of words. Antasma throws his hand into his face. "You cannot be serious." He mumbles. She then hurries along to her friends as to not be left behind.

Geno tosses the keys to Jaraberutzu. "Why don't you open the door first?" Geno asks her. "Why don't you give me a kiss first?" Jaraberutzu replies with a wink of her eye. "…Continue to open the door, Jarabertuzu." Lupo sighs. "Alright, alright. Just give me a second to open this wooden hunk-a junk." She replies back. When she inserts the key, the door immediately opens, and creaks heavily.

"…Um… Tada?" She whispers. Adelenn pats her in the back with such incredible force. "You did it! You opened the door! Now let's go get us some Crystal Suns!" She squeaks, as she enters through the floor.

She notices that the wooden tiles directly ahead of her are not squeaky at all. "Huh?" Adelenn checks out the tiles. "Hey, these are a different color!" She yells. She spoke only the truth, and the other heroes could see that. "Hmm…" She wonders.

"Bye byeeee!" A voice says from below, as it cackles with such a menacing and piercing voice. Adelenn looks around to see where it was coming from.

Suddenly, Adelenn drops down in place, and falls down a pit. Inside of it were multiple spikes, and Adelenn was skewered by one, right through the chest reigon. "OWWIEEEE!" She screams as this happens.

"ADELENN!" Geno screams. He tries to jump in to save her, but takes a step back to realize that what he's doing will only get himself killed, as well. "Hold on, Adelenn, I'm com-"

"No, wait! I'm fine, Geno! I just gonna un-impale myself!" Adelenn says calmly. Although she had been pierced by a spike, she lost no blood. She was literally stuck inside of a spike, and needed to break free.

She starts by breaking off the top of the spike. She then uses her scythe to lift her entire body from the broken spike. From there, she was free from the grasp of the spike. There was a hole in her chest, but it was quickly reverting back to normal, along with the clothing that tore apart in that area. She jumps out of the pit, and poses at the climax of her jump.

"TADA!" She yells as she stomps the ground. "…Impressive." Link claps his hands. Adelenn bends down to Geno's level. "You gotta touch my chest now-"

"WHAT." Geno immediately says. Adelenn frowns. "Y-you gotta make sure I'm okay if you touch my chest. If it hurts, then it's not good." Adelenn replies back innocently. "I-I can't do that to you! That's violation of your body!" He says.

Adelenn then grabs his arm and puts it on her chest. It did not hurt her in the slightest. "See? It's fine! Don't be such a scary cat, Geno! It's not viroleetons of my chest!" She giggles. Geno completely freezes once she let go, however. "Uh… Geno?" Mario waves his hand in front of Geno's face to see if he was reacting. 'My heart is racing so fast right now.' Geno thinks to himself, but can't get the words out. "…Let's just go." He says instead.

The heroes continue to walk down the hallway, and continue to look through doors. Most of them were dead ends, such as many bathrooms and showers, along with a massive amount of bedrooms in this one hallway. "Jeez, this place is like a hotel." Jaraberutzu states. "Bedrooms, bathrooms, recreation halls… It might as well be one!"

"And pair it with the stupid amount of ghosts just lurking around." Lupo adds, pointing at several red ghosts wandering around the main hallway. They were very glee for ghosts, as they would happily and violently play with weapons hidden inside of the mansion. "Well, Antasma did a good job in keeping order." Patricia adds, yet she keeps a close eye on everything. "Who set that trap up, anyway?"

"I dunno, but it was certainly not Antasma." Vivian says. "I've looked in the Tattle Log, and it seems as though his powers are limited in this dimension. He can't turn invisible, either. Not only that, I just asked him, and he was not lying about the fact that he didn't know." Mario nods to show that he was paying attention.

"So… how will we know where the Crystal Sun is? It could be anywhere, and we haven't found any clues." Link asks. "Well, why don't we try asking some of the ghosts around here?" Lupo suggests. "It might be a good idea since they're able to phase through walls. They could've seen something."

Adelenn stomps on the wooden floor. "Why didn't we do that before!? You could've told us earlier, Lupo!" She argues with Lupo, waving her finger in a way to chastise her. "Well, what would you do then, missy!? Huh!?" Lupo shouts back.

Adelenn, as she's walking, continues to speak to Lupo. "Well, first I would've told the ghosties that they need to give us the Crystal Sun, and when they do, I put them on timeout so that they can't stab us in the back with a sharp pointy thing!" Adelenn throws her arms upward.

"…Back to Plan A." Patricia says quietly.

LATER…

The ghosts were settling down, inside of each bedroom that was in the mansion. "Well, Luigi's Mansion turned into Antasma's Hotel." Vivian states. The other heroes couldn't help but agree. "Yeah…" Mario whispers.

The nine heroes come across a wooden door with a sword on it. Oddly enough, it looks like the Master Sword. "Oooh, is this where the weapons are!?" Link asks cheerfully. Mario looks up to see that there's a door number on it. "No, it's just a regular bedroom." He replies. Link groans. "Aw, shoot. I was hoping I'd find something new to play with in there." Link says. "As if the Champion of Brawl needs any new weapons to help defeat people!" Jaraberutzu spouts back at him with a smile.

RAWR decides to knock on the door, ignoring all of the bickering that was going on behind him. "Rawr… Rawr Rawr." He barks quietly as he hits his arm across the door.

"Yes?" Says a feminine voice. Mario immediately looks at the door. "Uh, hello! We just need to ask you a few questions, Ma'am!" Mario shouts so that the figure could here. "Alright, then. I can see there's nine of you. Bring forth your toughest fighter!" She replies.

Everyone looks at Link. "…What?" He says. Patricia grabs him by the ear. "Go. She wants to see you in front. It might be a challenge!" Patricia grins as she tosses Link at the door. "H-hey, fighting girls is not something I'm fond of." Link replies with a frown.

When the door opens, Link can see a red-haired woman with a farming gown on. She wore a gold broach that kept a small bandana suspended on her back.

"…Hi, Link." The woman says.

Link instantly drops his Master Sword onto the ground, and his Hylian Shield met the same fate. "M-M…Malon?" His voice wavers. The woman that he sees appears to be his hardworking cousin. "W-why are you here? I thought Talon and Ingo were helping you set up the ranch for summer!" He grabs Malon's shoulders.

"Well, I heard that you were coming here, Linky Winky. I had to make sure that my little cousin was doing alright." Malon uses her nickname for Link. "Aw, I haven't heard that name in a while." Patricia states, having met Malon before.

"This is your cousin, Link?" Jaraberutzu gazes at Malon from head to toe. Nobody knows why until the very end of her analysis. "She's surprisingly good-looking for a human. I might almost be jealous!" She states, crossing her arms together.

Adelenn's mouth was wide open when she looks at Malon. 'She has red hair like me! We can be best friends now!' She primitively thinks to herself as she runs to Link's side. "Hi! My name is Adelenn Boskra! I am the Second Death of Fear, and I'm one of Link's best friends! We like to fight and especially PLAY together! We should be friends!" Her smile beams as she tries to be friendly with Malon.

Her voice causes Malon to roll her eyes back. She freezes in place. "Malon?" Link says once. "Malon, wake up!" He starts shaking her softly to get her attention. "D-Demon… Queen." Malon groans, and grabs Adelenn's shoulders.

Suddenly, Malon turns into water, and falls onto the ground. The water then rises, and forms a blue ghost. Patricia pulls out her Mighty Shot instantly. "STOP! In the name of the law!" She shouts at the ghost. "Eeeheeheehee! You actually fell for thaaaat! Just as I was about to consume you, your majesty stopped me!" She screeches. "Now I have to wait for the royal majesty of darkness to make a decision."

Link was quite upset. He wouldn't speak for a while. "…Alright, Link. It was just a silly trick. I can't… LET THAT… GET ME MAD…" He grinds his teeth together and walks towards the ghost. He lightly pushes Jaraberutzu and Vivian out of the way. "Watch it, Link! We can't have you hurting a civilian." Vivian states.

"You!" Link points at the ghost. "Have you seen anything that looks like a sun? It's orange and spiky as all heck. You must've seen it somewhere, right?" He demands the answer, yet the ghost was thinking. "Hmm… You seem like you're in a hurry. I'm sorry, but I can only think of the Master Bedroom of this floor. Whatever you're looking for could be in there!" The ghost replies.

"Hey, Mario. A MASTER bedroom. I think I could use one like that. Wanna investigate that room with me and only me? It'd be fuuuuun!" Jaraberutzu asks, persuades and nudges Mario with a blush. She also giggles.

"…Pass." He gulps. He looks back at the ghost. "Well, do you know where the Master Bedroom of this floor is?" Mario kindly asks her. "Yep. The only thing is, there's a SLIGHT chance that King Boo may have whatever you're looking for."

"K-K-K-King Boo!?" Mario shudders rapidly, holding his arms together as if he was cold. "Mama Mia, that jerk is always getting in my business."

"HEEHEEEEE! KING BOO ALWAYS LIKES FUN!" All of the ghosts shout simultaneously as they appear from the ground, the walls, and even the ceiling. They dance and they sing songs that only they could hear. "They must LOVE King Boo, whoever that is." Lupo says.

"Yep. King Boo's their leader." Geno says. "I've met him one or twice. He has quite a toothy smile." The ghost says. "Anyway, the Master Bedroom's in that bronze door over there. It was made for the eldest son of the ghost family." She points at an intersecting hallway, which led straight to the bronze door she was talking about.

"Thank you, ma'am." Patricia says to the ghost. "No problem. Sorry about tricking you, I couldn't handle myself." She says towards Link, who growls for a moment. "It's okay, just don't do it again." He says back.

LATER…

"This is the door." Vivian states, and looks for the corresponding key for the door. Almost none of them worked. "Grr… How many of these keys are there!? I can't tell which one is the right one!" Vivian becomes frustrated, and throws the keys at Adelenn by mistake, who catches them effortlessly.

Adelenn then uses a key on the door. "Aha, this one might work, Geno!" Adelenn shouts, as she jams the key into the lock. She twists and turns the key around to make it open.

It opens. "YAAAAY!" Adelenn squeaks. "W-w-what? How did you get it open so quickly!?" Vivian asks in shock.

"Well, this key and this door were the same color, and I thought that it would fit since they were both shiny brown. It worked!" Adelenn explains. Vivian's mouth quivers for a moment. "E-e-e… aye." She sighs in disappointment. 'I've been outsmarted… by ADELENN.' She thinks to herself. "Good job, Adelenn." Geno says.

RAWR slowly opens the door, and allows the heroes to peer through. "Ooooooh! This is MY type of room!" Jaraberutzu says with awe. The room was almost completely made of bronze. The floors, the walls, the ceiling, the windows, the portrait frames, and even the air conditioner were made out of this material. The bed and the floor were normal, though. The floor was tiled and the bed was made out of the comfiest Sleepy Sheep cotton on the planet.

Jaraberutzu jumps on top of the bed, and lays on it. She sits up, and fixes her hair. She then stretches her legs out in front of her in an attractive way. "So, who wants to sleep on this here bed with me?" Jaraberutzu says with a complete poker face.

"Ooh! I do! Looks comfy!" Link raises his hand. Patricia slaps him in the face immediately. "How many times are you gonna fall for the ol' 'sleep in this comfy bed' trick?" She asks him with an angry glare. Link rubs his face. "Well, she asked me to." Link replies.

"Alright, guys, stop playing around. We have to find that Crystal Sun." Mario says. He checks around the entire room for anything that might have a lead for the Crystal Sun.

Pretty much every drawer he opened contained a Bob-Omb in there, and each time, he was sent back to the ground by being exploded in the face. Each explosion was abnormally powerful, as it was able to send Mario flying backwards.

"Tricky little buggers." Mario wipes the black powder off of his face. "This place is more explosive than Wario's rear end. And that's not easy to accomplish." He makes a snarky remark about his other cousin, Wario.

Vivian and Lupo also begin to search the large room. "Alright, what can we find in here?" Lupo says, as she looks around and even under the bed to find anything worth noting. As they all searched, they were slowly getting nowhere.

"Nothing?" Geno asks. Mario simply shakes his head. "Nothing that I could see. Adelenn WAS trying to help us, but then she started playing with whatever was under the bed." Mario replies, looking at Adelenn from the other side of the room, playing with small bronze statues. "No, Aunt Rosa! Don't go! Adelenn still wuvs you!" Adelenn murmurs to herself as she moves around two bronze statues shaped like Rosalina and a Luma. Geno buries his head into his hands. "Ugh." He moans.

Suddenly, a button catches Adelenn's attention. She puts down the two statues to look at it. She slowly crawls towards it to investigate. "Hmm… what's this thing?" She asks indirectly. "Why, that's a button." Lupo says. "Yeah, but a button for what?" She asks back. Adelenn is compelled to touch it, and so she does.

Except that she accidentally pushes it in, and the lights immediately turn off. Everyone looks at the light bulb to see it shine for only a fraction of a second before plunging all of them into a frigid darkness. "M-M-Mama Mia, it got cold in here." Mario shivers. "Was that light k-keeping us warm this whole t-time?" Patricia wonders. She is the most heavily affected by the sudden temperature drop, and sneezed several times.

"Guys…" Link pauses for a long moment, trying to grab the attention of the heroes. "What… is that?"

Right above Adelenn was a large, white spherical ghost with a ruby as a crown, sitting atop of it. It looked very vicious, as its teeth were massive. The entire ghost itself was massive, as well. It easily towers Adelenn.

"Ooohoo. It's been quite a while before I got my hands on a Demon soul. They are so very tasty. I think THIS will satisfy my meal for today." It growls, as it bites Adelenn right in the neck. Geno and all of the others gasp. "Adelenn!" Lupo gasps. "RAWR!" RAWR shouts and barks madly.

"Hey guys, do you feel something? I feel wet stuff all over my neck." Adelenn asks, seemingly unaware that the attack she endured was of any effectiveness.

Link instantly pulls out a Mirror Shield. "Mario, take this Lantern and this magnifying glass, and shine both at the direction of the shield!" He commands Mario and throws him a Lantern and a magnifying glass.

"Got it!" Mario replies, and does so immediately. The magnifying lens allows the lantern to shoot a more concentrated light. When it hits the polished Mirror Shield, it strengthens that same light. Link uses this light to attack the ghost.

When it made contact, the ghost started shaking violently. "INSOLENCE!" It yells, as it slams Link into the nearest wall, breaking it.

"W-whoa. This guy's tough!" Jaraberutzu states, taking out her two chained blades. "Does anyone know what this thing is?"

"Yep, we know exactly who that is. It's a Boo, but it's unlike any other Boo. It's extremely powerful, even for us. Of course, the toughest Boo in existence is known to be at the top of the monarchy. His name is…" Geno pauses for a moment to see the Boo laughing crazily.

"King Boo."

CHAPTER NINETEEN END.


	21. 20: The Second Floor

Chapter Twenty: The Second Floor

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 3

"Ooooh. Mario! It's a Boo! That Boo is a big Boo!" Adelenn claps her hands several times due to feeling joy in seeing King Boo, who was indeed VERY massive. His sharp, glistening teeth turn back to Adelenn. "Mmm… My time cannot be wasted by the other simple fools. I want only to eat you, and so I shall." King Boo whispers very quickly as he licks his mouth, almost making him intelligible. He then opens his mouth wide in an attempt to bite Adelenn.

Suddenly, Adelenn's scythe appears in her hand and directly slices King Boo, which sends him flying backwards. "Quick, Link! Help me catch it so that I can feed it hot dogs!" Adelenn grinds her teeth in determination. "It's not a pet, Adelenn! We're looking for King Boo because he HAS the Crystal Sun." Mario replies angrily.

"Oooooooh." Adelenn realizes. Jaraberutzu sighs deeply. "You need to pay attention more, Addie." Jaraberutzu says. "But that's beside the point. What do you want with us, King Boo!?" Geno roars at the massive Boo.

He laughs maniacally. "Heeheehee! All I wanted was a little nibble of your dear maiden. She smells GORGEOUS, FULL OF EVIL! You packs of dogs are giving hospitality to a young woman who was built only to be food, TO BE SATISFACTORY! IN MY STOMACH! WOO!" King Boo screeches at Geno.

Patricia gasps in disgust. "Adelenn isn't FOOD! She's a person just like the rest of us. Just because she's a Demon doesn't mean you have to treat her like an animal!" Patricia growls angrily, fueling King Boo's evil intent. "Hoo! You are fired UP! I like it. I like it I like it I LIKE it! I feel full just feeding off of your anger!"

"Hey, big guy." Link says from the broken wall. King Boo turns around. "Ah, the fool who is about to die wants to speak, I see. Prepare to meet your-"

Link easily gets up from the destroyed wall, and pulls out a giant wooden board from his back. "Ah, that was a pretty good warm-up attack. Now I feel a little bit better." Link smirks as he pulls out his Megaton Hammer. "Don't talk to my almost-wife like that. First, it's not nice, and second, only I get to mess around with her, because she likes it!"

"Link!" Vivian shouts happily. She was relieved that Link was alright from the blast. So was Patricia, but in a different kind of way. "DON'T EVER SAY THAT AGAIN." She bellows, but Link smiles in return. "Just remember who saved you from dying three times." He replies.

He then turns to Jaraberutzu. "Hey, I've yet to see you fight! Why don't you give this guy a shot!?" He replies. "RAWR!" RAWR agrees. Jaraberutzu was surprised to hear that someone was actually willing to see her fight. "Really? Okay. I'll do my best." She accepts Link's offer. "Thanks. If I entered this fight now, it'd be too easy." Link gives her a thumbs-up.

"DO NOT MOCK ME, BOY! I am more powerful than ANY of you. You do not even appear to be of any significance. Who are you to oppose me?"

Link laughs. "Haha! You're like a lot of people! Most don't know me at all, but I can tell you this. My name is Link. I am 17 years old, and I am the Hero of Time." He shouts proudly at King Boo.

King Boo angrily frowns. "So? You're just another loser." He says. This strikes Link deeply. "Well, excuuuuse me, princess!" Link shouts back and continues to speak.

"…I'm also the Champion of Brawl."

"W-WHAT!?" King Boo roars, completely in denial of Link's status. "You, the Champion of Brawl!? Impossible! Improbable! Laughable, even! Why would someone as popular as the Champion of Brawl be here, helping a bunch of pieces of meat!?"

"You can attack him now, Jara." Link nods his head towards Jaraberutzu. "Mhm! Let's go!" Jaraberutzu shouts.

To begin, she takes on of her Kusarigama and throws it at King Boo at the speed of a bullet, and it latches on to King Boo. "Go get 'em, girl!" Lupo encourages the Demon Lord. Jaraberutzu smirks as she starts to pull King Boo towards her direction. "Get over here, you lovely ghost! Teehee!" She calls towards King Boo, who was trying to escape.

"H-how!? Weapons cannot grab me! Why can this one grab me!?" King Boo flails around as he tries to escape. As he is pulled closer and closer, King Boo struggles even more. "My SPECIALTY is ghosts, you fool! That's the power of a Demon Lord!" Jaraberutzu brags humbly.

However, when Jaraberutzu closes in on King Boo, King Boo retaliates with an agressive backhand before Jaraberutzu could strike. It sends her on the ground, bruising her face. "Ow… I should've seen that coming." She rubs her cheek furiously.

"Fools. I should've never been worried about you in the first place. Now, back to my meal!" King Boo murmurs as he glides towards Adelenn once more. "Meal? You mean… THE BOXES WITH THE TOYS INSIDE!?" Adelenn shrieks and her eye glimmers. "Aunt Rosa said she'd get me one if I behaved like a good girl! YOU'RE LUCKY YOU GET TO HAVE ONE!"

Suddenly, Adelenn slams her scythe downward, causing King Boo to be sliced by the scythe, along with being smashed into the ground. Instant pain was felt, and caused King Boo to moan in agony. "You booger head! Why do bad guys get all the cool stuff!?" Adelenn asks him.

"She is demented." King Boo mutters. "That's Adelenn for you." Mario shrugs. "Don't you worry, you fools. If you so desperately need me for something, come and find me. I'll be waiting. AND NO, I'M NOT RETREATING! I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO!"

With that, King Boo disappears into the ceiling, out of the view of the heroes.

"HA! Chicken!" Link and Lupo simultaneously shout as they stick their tongues out and perform ridiculous mouth postures. "Okay guys, enough fooling around. We need to find out where King Boo is going." Geno says, but he can't figure out something. "The only problem is, he could be anywhere on that second floor. I heard it's even bigger than this floor."

"H-hey! *hic* I found this, this, this *hic* JUICE in here! It tastes *hic* like grapes and it makes me all wobbly and *hic* stuff! I also got the *hic* hiccups!" Adelenn says as she wobbles back and forth with a bottle of wine in her hand. She wobbles so intensely that she slams her arm into the wall and rumbles the entire floor. "EEK!" Vivian holds Lupo tightly. "Hey, it's okay. Adelenn's just… a little spaced out."

Geno sighs in disappointment. "Of all of my life as a Luma, I've never seen someone as adventurous as Adelenn. She even got herself drunk and doesn't even know it." He mumbles. Patricia seems worried about how Adelenn is acting. "Well, we better take that bottle away before she goes unconscious." She says as she takes away the bottle and looks at the label.

"Huh, this stuff is poisonous. It's supposed to kill you with one drink, but Adelenn is not dying." Patricia notes. Instantly she breaks the bottle on the floor, releasing all of the juice from it. When Adelenn sees this, she begins to frown like a small child. "Awwwwwww! You broke the big bottle! Now there's *hic* no more juice!" Her face begins to swell, and she releases small tears, continuing to wobble back and forth.

"Mario. What time is it, cousin? It's so dark outside I can't tell." Lupo looks out of the window to see a giant, purple moon. It wasn't the actual moon, but it was in the same spot as the actual moon. When asked, Mario looks at his Mailbox SP, which seemed to stop working for a bit.

"Stupid hunk of junk. I probably need to get a Mailbox DS. Those things are better." Mario growls at his device, until it displays the time. "WHOA! It's midnight!" Mario shouts. Link gasps along with him. "Suddenly, I am tired." He yawns.

"*hic* MARIO! I heard that *hic* when mommies and daddies *hic* REALLY love each other, they have a baby that *hic* takes nine months to fly from the sky by a birdy! *hic* It's amazing!" Adelenn mumbles loudly, trying to stay conscious. "That's somewhat true. Ehehehe…" Vivian scratches her head.

"Why don't we go to sleep, guys? Most of us are tired and cranky, so we might as well." Patricia seems to agree with Link for once. However, Adelenn stands up. "*hic* I'm good! I'll protect you guys from the *hic* Cookie Monster!" She says before finally collapsing from exhaustion.

LATER…

The nine heroes meet up with Antasma once more. "Ah, so you are back. Did you vind vhat you are looking vor?" He smirks evilly. He then stops when he realizes that whatever Mario had in mind did not go as planned. He displays this by sighing deeply. "I see that you were unsuccessful." He responds.

Soon, Geno joins with the group, with Adelenn on his back. "Sleepy… Sleepy… Juice… Sleepy… Geno… Sleepy… Link's skirt… sleepy…" She says in her sleep. "HEY! I DON'T WEAR A SKIRT!" Link roars aloud, taking major offense to what Adelenn said. Vivian snickers. "Heehee, are you now?" Vivian asks Link, who frowns angrily.

"No, Antasma. We lost King Boo. He's our only lead to finding the Crystal Sun, and we lost him in the second floor." Mario replies. "We can't find him now, though. Adelenn is asleep from drinking poisonous wine, and the rest of us also need some rest. We're gonna come back tomorrow morning to find that sucker."

Mario and the crew prepare to leave, and head out through the front. 'Hmm… It is crude ov me to not offer them a place to rest.' Antasma thinks to himself. He looks at the heroes, wondering if he should help them out.

"Vait. You do not have to leave." Antasma says as he suddenly appears at the front door. "Only this time, vill I allow you to stay vor as long as you need. That is, if you accept my offer." Mario takes a moment to think about this. 'Hmmm, Antasma used to be my enemy. Who knows if he might stab me in the back? But I do need a place for Adelenn to sleep.' Mario thinks to himself, deep in thought, a mental battle with himself ensues.

Mario holds out his hand. "Thanks, Antasma." Mario smiles as he continues to hold out his hand. Antasma reaches out to shake his hand in a friendly agreement. "You are velcome. This does not change anything, hovever." Antasma smirks evilly, but continues to shake like a friend.

"Behind me are vacant beds in a large room. It is vor humans, as it is clean and in perfect condition." He points his thumb behind him so that the heroes would pay attention to the red door. "It will also change to the preferences ov the evilest ov you, or the one with the darkest energy. SKREEEP! It is quite intriguing."

Immediately, the heroes head towards the red door in order to rest. Mario holds open the door for everyone, including the unconscious Adelenn. "After all of you." Mario kindly says, like a proper gentleman. Everyone thanks him properly as they walk into the room. Geno enters first, with Adelenn.

The room was large, just like Antasma said. It was roomy, and had four large beds. People were going to be forced to share. The room contains a large, flatscreen television, along with cable and videogame consoles. They all were collecting dust, as no human would dare enter Luigi's Mansion.

Unfortunately, the entire room was plastered with images of Geno. Most of them are of him fighting. Rosalina was also all over the walls. She was interacting with Adelenn in several ways. Geno's mouth opens wide in shock. "What. In the world. Is this." He says slowly, amazed and bewildered.

Adelenn starts to murmur in her sleep. "Yeeeeah, Geno… Go kick the living snot outta… Tarin… Aunt Rosa loves me too… She likes food." She says. "Antasma wasn't lying." Link rolls upon the floor, laughing at Geno's reaction.

"That's creepy, I'll give 'em that." Lupo exclaims, feeling the walls of the room. "Yep, there's an enchantment on these walls. It's not an illusion. That explains why it changes whenever a person with dark energy enters the room."

"Strange… I've seen enchantments at work before, but not like this. Luigi's Mansion sure is unique. Like a few people I know." Jaraberutzu winks at the three males. "I'm unique? Cool!" Link shouts aloud, which was paired with Patricia grabbing him by the collar. "You forgot you were unique already?" She growls.

Geno walks slowly and places Adelenn upon the biggest bed there, and tucks her in. She sleeps soundly, and holds the sheets tightly against herself. "That was faster than I thought." Geno sighs in relief. "Rawr!" RAWR agrees. Immediately, he runs under Adelenn's bed and makes a few small circles. He then lies down on his stomach and falls asleep as well.

Link immediately unslings the Master Sword and the Hylian Shield from his back, and jumps onto the nearest bed. He had to make sure he wouldn't break the entire room, so he used as little power as possible, which was still enough to crush an elephant. "AAAAH! THIS BED IS SUPER COMFORTABLE!" Link states as he reaches for the pillows.

Immediately, Jaraberutzu and Patricia jump into the same bed as Link, who didn't seem to mind. "Hey. No funny business, okay? I'm watching you." Patricia grits her teeth together, angrily growling at Jaraberutzu, who giggles uncontrollably. "Aww, don't worry. It's not like I'm gonna do THAT to him! That's just rude." She explains, giving Patricia a big, innocent smile before cuddling up with Link. Patricia tries to cuddle up with him even more so that he can wrap his arm around her, which she happens to like. They all fall asleep.

Mario and Lupo decide to share the same bed, since they were cousins, and it wouldn't be weird. "Wow, these beds really ARE comfy." Lupo states, fixing her hair before finally laying her head to rest. "Good night, guys. See ya in the morning." She states before falling asleep next to Mario.

Geno and Vivian get in the same bed, but don't say anything. They were too tired to even speak anymore. They simply tuck themselves in, and fall fast asleep.

NINE HOURS LATER…

Mario, Geno, and Link wake up right at 9:00 AM. All of the other heroes were still asleep. In order not to disturb them, they quietly tiptoe outside of the bedroom. However, they did not need to put much effort into it; Adelenn is a deep sleeper, and cannot be woken up by mere noises. Slowly, Geno closes the door behind them.

"Okay, guys. Let's try to find King Boo before the girls wake u-" Link cuts himself off as he looks at the window. He notices that the moon was still out, and it was still insanely dark. "…That's new." Link states as he puts his hands on the windowsill. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. You can't tell time in Luigi's Mansion. It's nearly impossible with the Dark Moon there." Mario points at the purple moon in the sky.

"I wish I didn't know that." Geno sighs. Mario shrugs, and walks into the Foyer.

There, the three meet Antasma once again. This time, he was allowing ghosts, Boos and Dry Bones into some parts of the mansion. Of course, this means that he was filing paperwork as well. He was muttering intelligible things, but keeps in to himself.

Mario slowly walks up to Antasma, who was about to attack him with a giant orb, but he eats it instead. "Ah, I thought you vere an enemy vor a second. My bad. SKREEP!" He chuckles at Mario, who was quite relieved that he wasn't blasted by an Antasmunchie.

"Not funny, Antasma." Mario huffs in return. "We're ready to go to the second floor to find King Boo. Can you give us the keys to the second floor rooms?" Geno nods in agreement. "Yup. We need those keys so that we can actually get somewhere."

Antasma throws another set of keys toward Mario. All of the keys were held by a circular ring. "Here are your keys. Use them vell. I must get back to vork." Antasma mutters, not even looking at Mario. He simply shrugs and walks away with Link and Geno to the flight of stairs right behind Antasma.

There is a doorway fitted with two doors. Mario takes a key of the same color and inserts it into the lock. Instantly, the door opens. "Nice." Mario says to himself. He then swings the door open.

When he tries to walking in, however, he is immediately stopped. "W-whoa…" He says.

The floor was gone. Everything else was still intact, but there was no floor. It did not lead to the first floor, either. It led straight to a bottomless pit. Nobody knows what's down there. "Mama Mia." Mario sighs. "Shucks. How are we gonna cross like this? There's no floor!" Link shouts aloud. As helpful as Link is, he can't fix this kind of problem. Most of his items only help individuals.

"Well, if we have no floor, we're gonna have to make one." Mario states as he pulls out his White Crystal Sun, Avalanche. It was freezing cold, but Mario decided to ignore the pain. He holds it up high, and shouts its name into the sky. "AVALANCHE!" Mario shouts with might.

A large rumble occurs the second after he shouts its name. Instead of freezing snow falling into the hole, snow was appearing from the bottom of the pit, and rises to the top. This all happened within a matter of seconds.

"…Pure genius, Mario." Geno pats Mario's back with a smile. "Nice one. Now, where do we start searching?" Link asks as he looks at the several doors in the vicinity. They were all very similar, and different at the same time. It was very linear; a tactic favored by such engineers.

"We should go through this door, guys." Adelenn states as she pokes at a d-

Wait, Adelenn? I thought she was asleep (and you did, too!). "Wow, you're up early. You look like a mess." Geno says as he looks at Adelenn. Her dress was halfway off of her shoulders, and her hair was very frizzy at the top. She was a hot mess.

"I-I'm not a mess! See, I didn't get any black stuff, white stuff, brown stuff, green stuff or red stuff on my anything!" Adelenn points at all of her body parts to show that she wasn't dirty. Link's eyes lower in diapproval. "Alright, then. Make sure that stuff stays off of you." He replies.

The first room that they decide to look into was yet another bathroom. It was identical to the bathroom on the first floor. "What is it with King Boo and these STUPID Bathrooms?" Mario asks himself. "I mean, seriously! Do ghosts even HAVE to use the bathroom!?"

"Mario, stay quiet for a second. Who knows if he's actually trying to find US." Link whispers while he puts his finger on his mouth, gesturing for silence. "Hey, Adelenn. Can you sense ghosts? I know you can control them and all." Geno asks Adelenn.

Adelenn drowsily turns around to face Geno. "Well… um… I'm pretty sure that there's one… over…" She yawns. Her body wobbles back and forth slowly, and she starts to lose consciousness. She then topples backwards, her head landing right on the toilet.

Normal people would probably become seriously injured from this kind of blow, but it was the room that got injured this time. Not only did the toilet completely break, but the floor around the toilet breaks apart, revealing the first floor, where another bathroom was. "MAMA MIA!" Mario pulls his cap down in shock, thinking that Adelenn was hurt.

Link looks down at the hole that Adelenn makes. "Bathroomception." Link giggles, only to be nudged by Geno. "Don't be silly. Make sure she's okay." Geno says, but Link doesn't. "She's fine. She's sound asleep, and she didn't wake up from the injury." Link states as he points at the snoring Adelenn.

Geno picks her up by the waist. "Well, let's continue. This room's a dead end."

The three heroes decide to look into the door right next to them. Fortunately, this one was different from the rest.

And by different, the room was upside down. The heroes were standing on top of the ceiling, and the ceiling was replaced with what looks like a living room. The chairs also did not obey gravity, like most things in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Weeee… Everything's downside-up. Are we in the Overthere… or are your pants just smelly?" A tired Adelenn mumbles and waves her finger, trying to keep herself awake. "It's okay, babe. Everything will be alright. Let us handle this." Geno assures her.

"Why is this room upside down? I can't quite put my finger on it…" Link looks around, trying to find anything that might help him figure out this puzzle. When he looks at the chandelier, he touches it. "Could this have anything to do with this stupid room?" Link asks himself.

When he pulls on the chandelier, a clicking sound is heard from a nearby door, which was flipped on the right side. "Ah, gotcha!" Link smirks happily. He, along with his other friends, walk towards this door, and go through it.

They end up in a room that was very familiar to the room they were just in. This time, everything was on the right side. "That felt very nostalgic." Link states.

When he says this, an invisible force throws Geno to the floor. "ACK!" He yelps as he suddenly lets go of Adelenn as well. Geno gasps when he gets back up. "I swear, we're doing so many terrible things to this poor girl while she's asleep. If she wakes up with amnesia, she'll attack us! I gotta tend to her head injury right now!" Geno panics. Mario puts his hand on Geno's shoulder.

"Relax. We got bigger things to worry about." Mario says to him. He was very true, as the one who knocked down Geno was King Boo himself. "EEHEEHEEHEEHEE! I KNEW you would fall for this trick! There's NOTHING that this old king CAN'T trick!" He giggles and shrieks insanely. He proceeds to attack with an immense speed.

It was as if he turned invisible. None of the heroes could see, hear or sense him. Link became dizzy; he uses these senses to fight his opponent. His sense of feel can't be used, either. King Boo is not tangible by normal means. "Ugh, I hate these kinds of cheap tricks. Now I have to rely on my reaction time." He groans. Mario lowers his eyes. "Is that really a problem for you? You're the fastest fighter in the Brawl Championship!" Mario sighs.

When King Boo tries to lash out with his teeth at the speed of a cheetah, Link merely jumps out of the way. "Tch, too easy." Link smirks. "Don't let your guard down, Link." Geno speaks up. "Mario, take out your Mega Hammer. There's a switch that illuminates it. You should be able to block and attack King Boo."

Mario immediately checks for this switch, and he finds it. "Oh, cool! I didn't even see this thing when I got it! Thanks!" He flicks the switch, and the Mega Hammer shines brightly. "Ooooh." Mario gazes into the hammer for a moment, and readjusts himself. "Alright, King Boo! Show your ugly face!"

He does so right before he attacks Mario from the floor. With his stubby right arm, he uppercuts Mario in the bottom of the lip, and sends Mario into the ceiling. His head is smashed into the ceiling with full force, causing Mario to fall back into the ground with serious bruises. "Mario!" Link shouts, and looks back at King Boo! "Look! I don't want to have to put you down like a baby, so just hand over the Crystal Sun and this will all be over!"

Adelenn suddenly shifts her body towards the ceiling, and looks at Link. "He's not gonna do it, Link. He wants you to beat him up before he gives you anything. That's what he's thinking, I bet!" Adelenn says tiredly. She won't be fighting anytime soon.

"Okay, so he's coming from the left wall." Adelenn states with a yawn.

Immediately, King Boo comes out of the left wall. "Gotcha!" Link shouts as he slams his Master Sword right into King Boo's forehead. He is ultimately smashed into the floor. "OOF!" King Boo lets out in pain.

"Now, like I said, could you please listen to us for even a tiny moment? Here me out, man!" Link grunts as he takes his sword off of King Boo. Adelenn waves her finger. "Yeeeeah. Link kicked your Boo behind. Woohoo." She tiredly taunts.

"Ugh… you stupid kids… I will tell you NOTHING! You will have to RE-KILL me for that to happen!" He sticks his massive tongue out at Link, and flies upward in a straight line. "You shouldn't have underestimated me." Suddenly, he turns around to Adelenn. "Mmm, dinner is ready. Raw, my FAVORITE." His lips smack in hunger. With all of his might, King Boo lunges at the tired Adelenn.

Adelenn simply looks up to see what was happening. "Ooooh, someone wants to fight me. Okay. I'll fight sitting down for five seconds." Adelenn yawns once again before snapping her fingers.

The scythe magically appears once again, and Adelenn blocks King Boo from advancing any further. His teeth locked when he bit the scythe. When he notices that this stopped him, King Boo's mouth became red with pain.

"YEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWTCH!" He screeches, his voice sounding like iron scraping itself onto more iron. "YOU STUPID SACK OF INKY SAUCE! THOSE WERE MY NEWLY SHARPENED TEETH AND YOU RUINED THEM!"

Adelenn continues to shake him off of her scythe. She gets up, and does not appear tired anymore. "YAAAY! Now let's REALLY fight!" Adelenn shrieks happily, putting both hands on the scythe. "Twice now you've humiliated me. Twice you have made me look like an ABSOLUTE JESTER, OF A FOOL! I will BURN you the next time we meet. I will SLAUGHTER YOU the next time you decide to show your face!" King Boo chastises Adelenn, who doesn't quite understand.

"Uhhh, are you okay? Do you need a break before you fight? It's okay, I understand!" Adelenn smiles brightly. This causes King Boo to growl deeply. "I shall await you. I shall eat your soul. It is delicious, and I HATE it when my food fights back!" He shouts at her before disappearing into the floor above.

"Byeeee! Have a nice day!" Adelenn waves her hand at the ceiling.

"AGAIN!?" Link shouts as he throws his shield to the floor and sticks his Master Sword into the ground in anger. "JUST WHEN WE WERE ABOUT TO GET OUR CRYSTAL SUN, TOO!" He crosses his arms and sits down, legs crossed. "Flippin' King Boo, with his intangibility and stuff. It makes me furious! Outraged! SICK WITH ANGER!"

"Don't worry about it too much, Link. I'm sure we'll be able to find him soon." Geno tries to sympathize for poor Link, who wanted to get it over with. "Yeah, I guess so. We'll come back later to find him. We might have worried the women."

Suddenly, the sound of Patricia's voice rumbles throughout the entire mansion. "LIIINK! WHERE IS YOUR STUPID BEHIND!? IF YOU DON'T COME HERE RIGHT NOW, I'M GONNA KILL YA!" She screams. Link's skin immediately gains Goosebumps from this. "Uh oh! Karma strikes again! We better get downstairs quickly!" Link takes all of his belongings immediately and heads out the door.

The other heroes follow right behind him in fear that they might get severe scolding from Patricia.

LATER…

"Where were you four?" She says as she whacks Link, Mario, Geno and Adelenn in the forehead with her bare hand at once. "We were looking for King Boo while you girls were aslee-"

"I AM A YOUNG WOMAN, LINK!" Patricia gives him an extra punch in the chin, which didn't affect him much. "Hey… you know what I mean, right? We were trying to let you rest!"

"Oh, really? Just as I was missing the warmth of your nice, muscular arms…" Jaraberutzu sighs in affection as she holds herself tightly. "I was cold, Link! You should've given me more time!" Link frowns at this, and feels somewhat bad for Jaraberutzu. "Sorry… I just needed to help Mario and Geno." Link says to Jaraberutzu. He turns to look at Patricia. "…Sorry, babe. I bet I made you cold, too."

"Darn right you did! I thought you were missing for good!" She angrily tackles Link to hug him tightly. Link returns the favor by grabbing her hair and hugging her back. "Well, it's good to know I'm back, right?" Link smiles happily. "I think I can stay here for a moment longer. For now, let's talk about what we have to do next."

"Alright, then. Take five, people. We gotta strategize." Vivian states. Adelenn jumps up and down in excitement. "Woohoo! We get to do planning and stuff! I call being the leader!" She shouts aloud, waving her hand to grab Vivian's attention. "Sorry, not today. Let us handle this, Adelenn." Lupo replies with a frown.

"B-but… I'm so good at leading… awwwww…" Adelenn frowns.

CHAPTER TWENTY END.


	22. 21: Ghastly Appearances

Chapter Twenty-One: Ghastly Appearances

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 3

Soon enough, the heroes were devising a plan in the same bedroom that they used to sleep in. Everyone was awake this time, and they were in the middle of a heated battle plan. They were all hoping that it would work. They were sure that at least something could be figured out.

"Okay, Mario. Your brother Luigi knows the most about King Boo since he was able to seal him away." Link starts by bringing up Mario's beloved younger brother. "How did he defeat them before? Did he have a special ability or weapon?"

Mario sighs deeply. "Yeah, he had a vacuum cleaner that was designed to capture ghosts. It was called the Pouldergeist 3000. Heh, not only could it suck in ghosts, but freeze them with this neat flashlight. Of course, there are some problem ghosts that need to be physically attacked before you could do any damage to them." Mario begins to explain.

"So… why the long face?" Jaraberutzu asks with confusion. "Luigi destroyed the Pouldergeist 3000 after he was done ghost hunting. We can't use any other models because King Boo is only affected by THAT specific model. We don't know why." He explains further. This caused a depressing atmosphere to spiral around the heroes. "Ah, so that's our dilemma, huh? I see…" Vivian says, dissecting the situation as best as she can.

"I don't think we should worry. Ghosts seem to be pretty much intangible, from what I was able to tell. However, I did notice something." Geno speaks up, hunched over so that the other heroes would listen. "Three of you are able to attack and damage King Boo. That would be Adelenn, Jaraberutzu and Link. All of your weapons seem to possess a magical essence that nullifies the intangibility of ghosts. I've read that the Master Sword has some magical properties in it, which makes it useful for situations like this."

"So my conclusion is that King Boo's main flaw is magic itself. It ain't rocket science." Geno finishes. "That also leaves us with a few problems. Not all of us are very profound in the art of magic. However I, for one, am somewhat experienced in using magic as a primary defense."

"You didn't have to put yourself down like that." Mario smirks, knowing that Geno is extremely better than he says he is. "I know, I know. It just sounds more believable, don'tcha know?" He replies with another smirk. "Lady Rosalina, or Mama, which is what I grew up with, gave me this power. I'm one of the powerful Star-Class Lumas. I can't let my abilities nor my intelligence go to waste." Geno looks at his two wooden hands. "I've become so used to being in this body, though. It's super fun!"

"Anyway, let's get back to the plan. Since Lupo and Patricia don't have a specific way to attack King Boo, we need them to distract King Boo for two minutes. They'll lead him to an enclosed room with only one exit. Prior to that, we need that time to cover the area with a silver barrier. Ghosts can't escape through any silver objects. Fortunately, I came with these. Mama gave them to us." Geno lays down thirty rolls of silver sheets.

"Wow, you came prepared, lightweight!" Lupo claps, congratulating Geno. He kindly bows. "Alright, so we can use this to stop him? This doesn't look like silver." Jaraberutzu looks at it carefully, thinking it had no merit or value to it. She does not think that it was made of silver. "It most definitely is." Vivian replies. She takes a large roll and gazes at it. She notices that only one side is lined with silver and the other isn't. She slaps Jaraberutzu's hands so that she doesn't steal a roll of the material. "Why is this like this, anyway?" She asks.

"RAWR!" RAWR tells them that it's because they need King Boo to get in, but render him unable to get out. "Wow, RAWR! That is smart!" Adelenn pats his head, and he growls softly. "I didn't even think of that." Patricia grins, surprised that RAWR could think of something so brilliant.

"Aaaab! Sol!" Shouts a small, cute voice near the entrance of the room. It was surprisingly feminine, but it did not come from any of the heroes currently there. Everyone looks around. "W-what was that?" Jaraberutzu clings tightly to Link. The creature immediately hides behind an adjacent closet. "Whatever it is, Link, you can kill it, right? You're the man!"

"I don't kill any Pokémon. Especially a baby Absol." Link puffs his bangs out of the way as he politely gets Jaraberutzu off of him. "I'm concerned for the little girl, but we need to take care of King Boo first." He gets up and walks out of the door with his Master Sword and Hylian Shield, but he holds it open. "Wait, an ABSOL!? What's it doing here!?" Mario and Lupo shout at the same time.

Absol is a species of Pokémon. It has the body structure of a wolf, but has completely white fur. Its nails and its skin are a dark shade of gray, and there is a sickle shaped ear hanging out of the right side of an Absol's head. "So, let's set up in the third floor. Then we'll take care of that baby Absol."

"Why is it following us, though, hun?" Patricia asks Link carefully, because she knows how much Link loves animals. "She's following us. I can hear her small, adorable footsteps though. She seems to be captivated by our looks, and quite possibly our smells and power. That's all I know from its footsteps. It's hard to figure out anymore from this creaky floor." He smiles. Everyone else was surprised. "All of that… from a footstep." Jaraberutzu says with a monotone voice. She knew little about how intelligent Link was when it came to animals and Pokémon.

He stops for a moment. "So… what're my homeys doing!? I'm doing this by myself or what?" He chuckles heartily. "It's been a while since I've heard you say that." Mario laughs along with him, and walks towards him. "Come on, guys. He's right, you know." He states back to his other friends. Quickly, they all leave the room. Following behind them was indeed the baby Absol, but she tries to be as discreet as possible.

As they went to check on Antasma, he didn't even bother to ask them if they needed the third floor keys. He just gave them to Mario and the rest of the crew. They, in return, give him the set of keys for the first and second floors. "Zis one likes to move around a bit, uh?" Antasma grins evilly, but means nothing by it. "Yeah, he does. He's a tricky little bugger, I'll give him that. We're gonna try and get him this time, though!" Jaraberutzu exclaims proudly. "Absoool!" The baby Absol whispers from behind, excited by the chatter of the heroes. She hides behind a small drawer so that she doesn't make any distractions.

"There are stairs nearby… they vill help you get to ze third floor. Go before I change my mind." He mutters as he reads a book in a language not from their planet. "I hate this book. I can't read it at all! SKREEP!" He growls once again.

The heroes, who did not want to disturb Antasma any further, slowly tiptoe to the third floor. The stairs spiral upward in an enclosed area. Absol follows the heroes up these stairs, but since she was so small, she had to jump every time a step was in her way. She makes as little noise as she can.

The third floor was quite majestic. Even the spiral staircase had a red carpet following it. "Whoa, this carpet is made out of some genuine stuff! Mint condition, too!" Vivian exclaims, adoring the carpet's soft texture. "Raaaawr!" RAWR agrees, clawing at the red carpet in a way that wouldn't destroy it. The baby Absol copies him, and even she starts gnawing at the carpet happily. "Absoo!" She squeaks.

The heroes finally stop at the third floor. They were all in surprise. "Whoooooa…" They all gasp in awe.

The heroes have stumbled upon one of the most beautiful things in the world, which is the third floor of Luigi's Mansion. It was designed with a wonderful shade of green, which stood out very well against painted red ornaments that were meant to be placed on a tree. "Well, someone really outdone themselves here!" Patricia looks around, liking how the place looks. "Hun, you should paint your house this color! It'd look sweet!" She says to Link.

He wasn't listening to her though, as he looks behind him. He notices that Absol was still following them. When Absol noticed Link, she hid behind the stairs once again. "Ab!" She yelps, scared of what Link might do. "Rrgh, I REALLY can't ignore her any further. Alright guys, you go set up in that door all the way in the back while I tend to the little girl." Link commands, and the other heroes agree to do so.

Link pulls out a sack of ovular, blue berries out of his pocket. In the Hoenn Region, where the Absol species was first found, these berries are known as Oran Berries. All Pokémon love this berry, as they are irresistibly tasty. Link leaves the bag on the floor, and quietly lays down on his stomach, right next to it. He patiently waits for the baby Absol to come.

She was confused, as she doesn't know what Link was doing. "Come here, beautiful! I just wanna talk to you!" He tries to persuade the Absol, even backing away from the food so that he doesn't give off the impression that he wants to eat Absol. "Absoool!" She barks happily because of the food that Link left. Still cautious, Absol casually walks on all four of her limbs and sniffs the food. She knew it wasn't poisonous when she did this, and happily ate each berry, one by one. Link giggles. "Haha, so you like Oran Berries, huh?" Link asks her.

Link's laughing startles Absol, and she yelps in fear. "Ab! Abso! Absoool!" She shouts, growling, ready to strike Link.

Link responds by taking out an Oran Berry from his tunic. "Don't worry. I have more than where that came from!" Link holds his hand out and places the Oran Berry right on top of it. "…Abso?" Absol was confused. She didn't know why Link was being so kind to her. Without much of a second thought, Absol slowly walks to Link, and eats the Oran Berry quickly.

"Theeeere we go! Look at you! You didn't have to be afraid of me!" Link's smile beams. He's almost made a new friend. After Absol eats the berry, she looks at Link's hand. It slowly approaches her, but without malicious intent. "A-Abso?" She wonders what Link was going to do with that hand.

All that Link does is scratch the underside of her chin. "A…Aaaaabsoooool…" Absol almost purrs as Link continues to scratch her chin. Link smiles once again. "Good girl! See? I'm a nice guy. My name is Link." Link says to Absol. "Absol!" She replies. "Hehe, I'm sure your name is Absol! That's the kind of Pokémon you are!" Link replies back.

Suddenly, Absol jumps into Link's tunic, and pops her head out of Link's collar. "Absol!" She cries aloud in excitement. "Oh? We're friends already? Nice!" Link smirks as he pats Absol's head. "You're a cute little Absol, aren't you? Well, let's go back to my friends, and I'll introduce them to you." Link stands up from the floor, and stretches for a while. He yawns, as well.

When he turns around, he is greeted by a maniacal face with large, sharp teeth, and restless eyes. "Boo." It shouts in Link's ear.

"ABSOOOOL!" Absol's head retreats back inside of Link's tunic, afraid of what appeared to be King Boo. "Oh, you again!? What do you want?" Link yells at him. King Boo laughs horrendously. "HEEHEE! You were having too much fun, so I'm just gonna kill you right here, right now! But before you die… I'll tell you what I am." King Boo snickers and flies around Link at the same time.

"I… am the fifth of Ten… I represent so proudly, you idiot. I am the reason why foolish jokes become deadly. I am the cause of all that is mischievous, for I am the Death of Malpractice and Mischief! Hoohaahaa!"

Link became quite annoyed. It was not because he was trying to kill him, but that King Boo scared the Absol he was befriending. "Hey, don't ruin my chance at having my very first Pokémon friend for life. I never had a cute wittle baby Absol before… SHE ISH SHO KYUUUUTE!" Link's voice became high-pitched as it was trying to comfort Absol.

"And I was just about to name it, too! Her name was gonna be S-"

"OH MY GOODNESS LINK LUPO IS SOOOOO FAST AT PASTING SILVER ON THE WAAAAAALLS!" Shouts Adelenn's voice as she dashes into King Boo and half-heartedly kicks King Boo out of the way, and into the wall like a rocket. "Oh, so you guys are done? Sweet." Link smiles. "Even I helped! They let me carry everything!"

"…" Link stood silent for a moment. "…I can't believe they made you do that." He groans in disgust. "I mean, you're a capable, young woman! Why can't they let you do the adult things?"

"Hmmm… I dunno, I just know that I helped, and I was useful!" She giggles happily, swinging her long, orange hair around. Link frowns. "You're always useful, no matter what you do, Adelenn. Don't let anyone say otherwise." He replies. "…And you're six foot six. I ALSO think you're also quite helpful in a particular aspect as well." A smile rose on Adelenn's face. "Really? That means I really AM useful!"

"DON'T IGNORE ME, FOOLS!" King Boo screeches at the two, and gets back up after being slammed through a wall. "Your arrogance allowed you to break that wall. Do you know what that means, foolish children? Hehehe, you'll never know until I STRIKE!"

In a flash, King Boo tries to bite Link, but in that same flash, Link had unsheathed his Master Sword with one hand and blocked the attack with little effort. When he smells King Boo's breath, he can tell how he was planning to attack. "Really? You were planning on poisoning me? Yeah, real smart move there." Link smirks. The baby Absol pops its head back out to see Link protecting her. "Ab! Abso! Abso!" She cheers on Link, encouraging him to attack back.

With the same hand, Link pushes off King Boo while caressing Absol in his other hand. "Good girl! I'm glad you're helping me out!" Link smiles once again. "Absooo." Absol gazes into Link's blue eyes with such seriousness. She was completely captivated by Link's looks. His tunic can be clawed easily, and he seems to feed her. Absol could ask for nothing more from him!

They would be best friends for the rest of their lives.

Link retaliates exactly as he was asked to by Absol. "Hey, stupid! I just realized I'm able to do this!" Link puts his hand towards his mouth. "What do you want, idiot? Are you trying to hit me with another useless attack!?" King Boo laughs. "You can't attack me from that distance!"

"Well, Absol did tell me to use Flamethrower." Link smirks. He takes a deep breath, and backflips high into the air. With three spins, he reorients himself and points at King Boo. He then blows right towards his opponent.

But instead of air coming out of his mouth, pure fire came out of his mouth. "WOOO! SPICY!" Link screams excitedly. King Boo looks at the fire with disinterest. "Oh? Fire? Fire isn't gonna hu- oh wait I just remembered it was magical." King Boo states before being blasted in the face with Link's fire.

"OOOOOOH! Link has magic, too!? Why didn't you tell me this before!?" Adelenn's eye glows in surprise and excitement. She wanted to know beforehand. "Absol! Absol! Absooool!" Absol squeaks happily. She was so happy that Link was able to use Flamethrower. She rubs her small head against Link's neck in affection.

But suddenly, with one hand, Link holds Absol against his chest, and with the other, he drags Adelenn towards the room. "Okay, we gotta go NOW, Adelenn. Or else our plan is gonna go to waste!" Link panics. He wishes that he didn't hit King Boo with such a powerful attack. He may have retreated again, and their entire fight would be pointless. "Absool…" Absol says, still trying to keep herself close to Link. She didn't want to separate from Link just yet.

"Don't worry, girl. I won't let him hurt my cute wittle Absol!" He starts to talk to his Pokémon as if she were a baby (which she is). He bolts out of the room and is somehow carrying Adelenn with his other hand (and by the waist, too!). "Hey! I wanted to shoot fire at i-"

"Noooooooo!" Link immediately shouts back in a panic. "If you did that you'd light up the entire continent!" Adelenn became sad because she wasn't able to fight. "Awwwww… why do you get to fight, Link?!" She asks very impatiently, with her arms crossed.

"'Cuz it's not in my nature to let a beautiful lady get hurt." He looks at Adelenn and smirks. "Absol! Absol!" Absol barks at Link happily, even though she doesn't fully understand what he's saying.

"…What." She suddenly says.

LATER…

Link slams the door shut behind him. The other heroes jump for a moment, thinking that someone was attempting to attack them. "Whoo, you scared us, Link." Mario sighs in relief. Geno chuckles. "Since when did you get scared by swung-open doors?" He jokes. "Anyway, what took you so long? I'm pretty sure you had a Pokéball or something to catch that Absol."

Link smiles brightly once again. "Who needs Pokéballs when you've got the skill of befriending?" He says as he puts down the baby Absol. He sits down right next to her and looks at her. "Okay, Absol. These are my friends. They love Pokémon just like I do. I know we just met, but having friends is always good, even when you think you don't need them." Link encourages the timid Absol to speak to the other eight heroes.

"A… A… Absol." She shakes in fear, and runs right under Link's left arm to hide. She was afraid of the meanacing looks that the heroes gave. Link frowns and tries to comfort her by rubbing her head. "Awww, don't worry, Absol! It's okay, sweetheart! Patricia may look like a monster, but she's really ni-"

"Can it, stupid." Patricia growls as she drives her foot into Link's face, but he smiles happily anyway. "I wanna keep her. She likes me already. I think we'll be great friends. Now all I have to do is name her before King Boo starts getting upset." Link says. "Ab." The shy Absol barks at RAWR, wondering why it was there. Clearly, she knows how to talk to other Pokémon. "Rawr. Rwwwr." RAWR replies. He told Absol that there was nothing to be afraid of. None of the heroes wanted to hurt her. Absol then looks back at Link. "Abso?" She asks him. Link nods. "Yeah, they're all good people. The only bad guy is that ghost we were fighting!" Link smiles.

"Abso Absol Ab Ab-Sol?" Absol asks Link. "Oooh, she wants a name! Name her Loli or Pop!" Adelenn smiles brightly. Link's eyes lower in disapproval. "That doesn't make sense to name a Pokémon after food. It's inhumane." He replies.

"So… Absol. Your new name shall be… Soulola. Welcome to the team!" Link states.

"ABSOOO!" Soulola shouts. She already loves her new name. She gets out of Link's arm and walks up to his face. Suddenly, she performs something that is a mix between an affectionate kiss and a bite at the same time. Link didn't mind, though.

'Hehe, that tickles.' Link thinks. He was too preoccupied with the fact that he made a new friend so easily. "When Rosalina sees her, she's gonna flip out!" Lupo says. "She'd seem to be the type to like animals." Jaraberutzu agrees.

She couldn't speak anymore, though. King Boo was about to enter, and everyone could sense it. He was in a rage. "Oh, great. We've ticked him off again." Vivian looks at Link. "You did this?"

"Well, I mean… I COULD'VE, I just spat fire in his face and stuff." Link shrugs. "Soulola asked me to."

"DARN RIGHT YOU'VE TICKED ME OFF!" Shouts the voice of King Boo as he rams himself right into an unsuspecting Link. Link rolls several times before crashing into the wall, ultimately breaking it. The other heroes didn't need to worry about Link, as he gets back up as soon as the attack lands. "Hah, weak. I LET you hit me like that and you still couldn't do much." He smirks.

Soulola, however, thought that Link was gravely injured by the attack. "A-Absol!" She runs towards Link's leg. "H-hey, beautiful. What'cha doing? I don't want you to get hurt!" Link stammers. He didn't know what to do with Soulola, as she was in the way of the battle. Soulola immediately starts to lick his leg in order to heal him. "Umm… Jara, tag in! I'm in quite a fix here!" Link shouts.

Jaraberutzu and Link slap hands and immediately switch places in battle. "That baby Pokémon's gonna be quite a handful for Link, so why don't you play with me instead? Interpret that however you like! Teehee!" Jaraberutzu suggestively winks at King Boo, who shudders in disgust. "Ay, the beings I have to deal with. I'm going to meditate for a while. Be right back." He says.

However, when he tries to phase through the walls, he couldn't. "What's this? I cannot get out?" He questions. Suddenly, he begins banging mercilessly on the wall. "Grrrrrr… Why won't you let me PASS!?" He yells at the silver-lined wall.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but you can't phase through silver." Jaraberutzu says while slowly reaching for one of her Kusarigama. "Alright, my lucky Chain Sickle, don't fail me now." She mutters to herself.

"…I'm just done now." He mutters under his own breath as he begins to reach for something behind him. It was an orange Crystal Sun, the exact same one the heroes have been looking for. It glows eerily, but brightly. "I didn't think that I would need to resort to something like this to stop you meddling ki-"

"Yoink." Jaraberutzu, with her lucky Kusarigama, snatches the Crystal Sun out of King Boo's hands. From fifty feet away, she grabs the chain and pulls it back, bringing the sickle back. With it comes the orange Crystal Sun, which is the one that they needed from King Boo. "Oooh, this one's all nice and shiny and orange. Just like gold! JUST WHAT I LIKE!" She smiles slyly.

Patricia had thrown her hands up in the air. "Whoa whoa whoa, WHOA! What in the world was tha- did anyone else see that just now?" Patricia growls in jealousy. She wishes that she had a weapon like that. "Wow, nice job, Jara!" Mario compliments Jaraberutzu. Lupo, Adelenn and Vivian just watch in awe. RAWR and Geno stay focused on the battle.

"Jaraberutzu's pretty skilled, but I can tell that this is one of her first fights. She lacks the experience that she should already have, but being a Demon Lord helps to compensate. Wouldn't you agree, RAWR?" Geno tells his Pokémon friend. "Rwr." He nods silently, for the most part.

"Oohoo, What should I do with this baby?" Jaraberutzu asks herself. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SELLING IT!" Geno yells powerfully, which makes Jaraberutzu frown. "Aww, one option down. Well, time to go straight to my fifth option…"

"Use it." She smiles menacingly. Immediately, she holds up the Crystal Sun, and it shines brightly. Mario gasps. "Mama Mia… I never thought about letting my friends use those things." His voice wavers in awe. Link was also surprised. "Look, Soulola! That Crystal Sun is glowing!" He tells his new friend by using her arm to point. "Absooo…" She silently barks, captivated by the light.

"Oooooh, man! I can't wait to see what that one does!" Vivian shouts as she pulls out the Tattle Log to record.

"Hmph. Mirage." Jaraberutzu whispers.

Suddenly with a flash of sand, she disappears from sight. King Boo immediately jumps at this. 'Guh! Where did she go!? She was standing RIGHT there just a second prior to now… This doesn't bode well.' King Boo thinks to himself. "Well, I must compensate… GHOST TACTIC SEVENTY: SPLIT!" He shouts aloud.

When he does this, King Boo splits into ten that are roughly the same size as King Boo was originally. "BWAHAHA! It's TEN against ONE, girl! We all have the same strength, and they're will be no possible way for you to defeat me!"

"HA! You call that a tactic!?" Jaraberutzu's voice echoes throughout the room. Everyone looks around.

Suddenly, Jaraberutzu appears from seemingly nowhere, and attacks one of the King Boos head on. Her Kusarigama directly lands on his teeth, which were blocking the attack. "My teeth are even sharper than before, mongrel. Don't think that you've won. Heeheehee…" He snickers maliciously.

Another clone of King Boo is suddenly sliced by another Jaraberutzu, who cleanly cut him without much effort. A third and a fourth Jaraberutzu took out five of the other Clones of King Boo without effort at all.

Jaraberutzu, with her Kusarigama hanging on her back, picks at her ear. "You were saying something?" They all say simultaneously. King Boo's mouth hung wide open. "Wh-wh-what!? WHAT?! WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO DO THAT, INFERIOR SCUM!?" He yells at Jaraberutzu.

Everyone else was just as surprised as he was. "WHOA!" Everyone shouts. "RAWR!" RAWR barks. "AB! ABSOL!" Soulola gnaws at Link's face to grab his attention. "I know, sweetheart! That Crystal Sun's working its magic!" He replies.

In a flash, three of the Jaraberutzu clones slice four more King Boo Clones by throwing a Kusarigama at each of them. All of the ones attacked disappeared with a haze of smoke. The Jaraberutzu clones also disappear and turn into sandy heaps.

"Haha! I love this thing! I think I'll keep it for a little longer!" Jaraberutzu smiles suggestively. "So… ready to give up?"

"AS IF! As if I'd let someone as stupid as you take me down in my OWN mansion, my OWN living space! YOU will most certainly not possess the power to defeat an unkillable being such as myself! I cannot die, so you cannot defeat me!? DO I MAKE MYSELF CL-"

With a flash, Jaraberutzu slams her fist into King Boo, and causes him to crash into the silver-lined floor. Dust flies in every direction when he lands. "Oh… naaaah. I can't lose now! Awww maaaan…" King Boo mumbles as he loses consciousness.

Everyone fell silent. They had nothing much to say on Jaraberutzu's victory. Jaraberutzu was expecting applause, however. "…" She says nothing, hoping that at least someone would cheer for her.

Suddenly, she used the Crystal Sun once more to create a sandy barrier around her. She then pulls Link into it. "WAH!?" Link shouts as he accidentally drops Soulola. She makes it on the floor unharmed, though. "Abso!?" She cries aloud, wondering where Link went.

"Mmmmmmmmm." The sound of Jaraberutzu carried across the room, paired with Link's screaming. "HELP ME! GUYS! SHE'S ATTACKING ME IN A VERY UNCOMMON WAY!" He shouts shortly before Jaraberutzu muffles his mouth. Nobody could see anything, however.

"Geno, what are they doing?" Adelenn asks him. Geno completely zoned out, as he was very confused on the matter himself. It was continuing for quite a while, about two minutes. It was quite puzzling to most of them, but Mario knew exactly what was going on.

When the sand clears, Link's hat was cleanly off of his head, and his hair became extremely frizzy. For some unknown reason, his face was as red as a Koopa's shell (and that's pretty red). "Oh my… that was… that was craaaazy." He mumbles before passing out.

Right next to him was a giggling Jaraberutzu, who folded her wings back into her clothes. "Hmhmm! That was fun while it lasted. Too bad it didn't last long, if you know what I mean." She blushes as she looks towards the other heroes.

Patricia was glowing red, and her eyes looked as if they were on fire. "What did you do… to MY MAN!?" She pulls her Mighty Shot out, sets it to stun, and aims it at Jaraberutzu. "Awww, what's the matter? I can't toy around with your friend just a little?"

"OF COURSE YOU CAN'T!" She growls and releases two stunning blasts, which causes Jaraberutzu to feel ticklish. "Hehehehehe! HAHAHAH! That tickles! S-stop it, Patty! I didn't mean nothing! Ahahaha!" She screams in ticklish agony.

"Calm down, people," Mario begins. "We just fought one of the Deaths and won. Can't we have just a little bit of peace?" RAWR had no choice but to agree. "Rawr. Rwwar." He nods in agreement. Soulola thought that she should say something, too. "Absol, Abso Ab!" She barks.

"But Link isn't injured, Soulola. He just got attacked by Jaraberutzu, and she used some sleeping magic or something!" Adelenn smiles with concern. '…I hope.' She thinks to herself.

A MINUTE LATER…

Lupo decided to carry Link since Patricia would probably use him as a tool to beat Jaraberutzu with. Mario handed the keys back to Antasma, who heard nothing about King Boo. "Ah, so you made it in von piece. Very good, very good." He says while reading his comic book.

"Yep. We're done here! Thank you for letting us stay here. We'll make sure to come back if you start feeling lonely again." Vivian waves at him. In return, he smiles. "Bring back food the next time. I get very hungry on the job!" He replies.

"Absooo!" Soulola says to Antasma, hiding under Link's green hat. "She says goodbye." Link translates. The other heroes decide to say goodbye as well.

When they head outside, it's still very dark outside, but the rain halted. "Cool, now we won't get soaked!" Patricia sighs in relief. Adelenn frowns, however. "Awww, I wanted it to rain so that we could drink some of it." She says.

Jaraberutzu pats her on the back to cheer her up. "Don't worry. As long as this world is still in one piece, it'll rain again. Plus, we need rain to live anyway." She grins. "Oh, okay." Adelenn smiles back.

They all start to walk back towards the Warp Pipe when Adelenn immediately sparks another conversation. "So, Jara… what was that thing that you did with Link? You defeated him in two seconds flat!" She asks the Demon Lord.

"We-he-hell, I know my way around certain people… You see, a man is lured by some of the most interesting things. One of them is by giving them a nice, flavorful k-"

"Shut up." Patricia growls. "If you teach Adelenn any of that stuff that you do on your free time, I'm gonna see to it that you face punishment, Patricia-style." Jaraberutzu lowers her eyes in disinterest.

"Says the woman who can't even smooch her own man. Even the Pokémon beat you to him!" She mentions Soulola and laughs heartily, but her laughs sting Patricia like barbed wire.

"Sh-SHUT UP! THAT'S NOT TRUE AT ALL! You're LUCKY Link's not AWAKE!" Patricia retaliates with denial. She didn't want Jaraberutzu to put her down. "You punk." She whispers.

"Well, better luck next time." She shrugs.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU."

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE END.


	23. 22: Mega Surprises

Chapter Twenty-Two: Mega Surprises

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 4

"Grrrr… Meta Knight, I won't let you win the soda-drinking contest AGAIN!" Shouts the familiar voice of Captain Falcon. In the Super Smash Bros. Guild Hall, he was sitting in the cafeteria with his friend Meta Knight. Meta Knight won three soda-drinking contests in a row against Captain Falcon, and wasn't going to lose again.

"You don't know when to give up, do you? VAMOS, AMIGO! We shall have another contest, and I shall win! Haha!" Meta Knight laughs as he brings up six 3-liter bottles of soda. "Are you ready to lose, amigo?" He says once more.

"Oh quit it, Meta Knight! Speaking Spanish only makes me angrier, so why don't you knock it off!?" Captain Falcon replies. "Vamos, porque yo no tengo mucho tiempo." Meta Knight smirks, but his mask doesn't show his emotion.

"Grrrrrrrrrr… I'M NOT LOSING TO YOU!" Captain Falcon immediately grabs a bottle of soda (as with Meta Knight) and they begin drinking furiously. "Guys, would you knock it off?" Ike grumbles, annoyed that all that they do is shout at each other and drink soda. "How do you guys even stay so tough when all you do is drink that junk?"

"IT'S CALLED TRAINING!" The two shout simultaneously as they continue to guzzle down soda.

Suddenly, a jolt of energy washed the entire room. It was almost catastrophic. For a moment, everybody stops what they're doing. "…It's him." The Ice Climbers say seriously.

"Oh! I can sense him! He's coming!" Says another member.

"…Link. He's back." Says a strange Pokémon with blue and yellow fur. "Pikachu!" Squeaks another Pokémon right next to him.

"Wow! He's actually coming back!" Ike smiles brightly. "Now we can party all n-"

Suddenly, from a Green Warp Pipe in the center of the hall, Link is shot out of it unconsciously. His body hits the ground with such a force that it causes the floor to make a crater. Everyone stopped in their tracks.

"L-L-LINK!? UNCONSCIOUS!?" Meta Knight shouts, bewildered by what he saw. Immediately, everyone with a weapon unsheathed it, ready to strike whatever was to come out of the Warp Pipe. For a moment, nothing came out.

"…Ugh, fine! OKAY GUYS, DON'T ATTACK! It's just Mario and his friends!" Shouts a familiar voice. "He's just knocked out from… something. Mama Mia… he should be alright." Shouts another unmistakable voice.

Suddenly, some heroes jump out of the Pipe. Lupo, Mario, Jaraberutzu and Vivian escape the pipe. "Heyooo!" Vivian poses, attracting the entire guild. RAWR also came out of the Warp Pipe in a blaze. "RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" He screams, shooting a controlled flame into the sky.

Next, Adelenn, Patricia, Soulola and Geno jump out of the pipe, but pose in a triangular position. "YO! WE'RE BACK!" They all shout, with Soulola in Adelenn's collar. "Abso!" She squeaks cutely, grabbing the attention of all of the girls in the guild hall. "OH MY GAAAAWSH! IT'S SO CUTE!" They would say, hugging themselves as if they were hugging Soulola.

Soulola jumps out of Adelenn's collar and right next to Link. "Absoooo!" She barks aloud, licking Link's face so that he would awaken. "Oy… Too many cute girls… I got kissed like… a lot… I think I got five women pregnant with babies… oooh noooo." He mutters in his sleep. Soulola tilts her head in confusion. "Sol?" Soulola wonders what he was talking about.

"Yeah, don't mind him. He passed out after a certain someone made out with him… forcefully." Geno grits his teeth as he angrily stares at Jaraberutzu. "…What? His lips needed a little bit of a… rehydrating, you know?!" She replies with a blush, which ended up with a block of concrete thrown at her face. "QUIET, YOU." Patricia roars, which gets Jaraberutzu to laugh loudly.

"We're just making our way through. If you can excuse us, guys." Vivian speaks up in order to avoid conflict. "Mario, could you wake him up?"

"Not a problem!" Mario replies. He crouches down and cups his hands next to his ears. He lowers his head down and whispers in Link's ear. "You're missing out on the fuuuun! Patricia's hair is extra nice and greasy!" He giggles, which made Patricia throw a piece of concrete at him. "You jerk." She growls.

Instantly Link gets up. "WHERE!?" He shouts, searching everywhere for Patricia. When he sees her, he immediately beams with happiness. "OHHH! Mario's right! She IS showing off her hair!" Steam shoots out of his nostrils as he begins to stroke Patricia's greasy hair. "Oh thanks, hun! It's an early birthday present for me!" He mumbles happily. "Stop or I'll kill you." She mumbles.

"Soool. Absol." Soulola grabs the attention of the heroes as she jumps up and down on the platinum Warp Pipe, next to where Link was. She was grabbing him by the pants, and attempts to drags him in a friendly way. "Oh, yeah. We need to get back to Aunt Rosa! She wants to hug us!" Adelenn speaks up. "Pretty sure YOU want to hug Lady Rosalina." Geno smirks. As soon as he says that, he is grabbed by Adelenn. "YOU want to hug her, too! She's your mama!" She shouts at Geno happily. "Uh, well, I mean... that IS tru-"

"TO THE OBSERVATORY!" She squeals, and throws Geno in the Warp Pipe. "ADELEEEEENN!" He shouts at the top of his wooden lungs before disappearing into the Warp Zone. She jumps in right after him. "Abso!" She barks at the rest of the heroes. They all nod in understanding.

"Sorry, guys! We have to go!" Lupo explains to Mario's friends at the guild hall. She, along with the rest of the heroes, wave at the entire guild hall, and leap inside of the Warp Pipe.

"…Oh, just when I thought things were about to liven up again! Stupid Link…" Captain Falcon grumbles. He finishes the last drop of soda slowly. "Don't worry, Link will come back." Meta Knight says. "Yeah, when he gets a kid!" Captain Falcon snorts.

"Speaking of which, did he ever had a name planned for his first child? It was a girl's name or something. I can't remember." Ike asks. He knows that Link was one of the last people (excluding children) to be in a relationship. "Oh… that. Well, he's always wanted a baby girl. I think he wanted to name her…" Captain Falcon pauses.

"Lily."

LITERALLY FIVE SECONDS LATER…

On the Cosmic Observatory, Rosalina could sense the presence of the heroes this time. They were arriving via Warp Pipe. That's as much as she wanted to know, because she now knows they are safe. "Good. They are coming back safely. I shall patiently await them." She reassures herself.

However, she didn't need to wait very long. Everyone jumps out of the Warp Pipe at the same time to greet Rosalina. "Oh my!" She gasps in surprise. Their entrance was very flashy, and it somewhat moved Rosalina. "Ah, the youth of this generation. So amazing!" She whispers to herself.

Suddenly, she is tackled by Adelenn. "AUNT ROSA! WE'RE BACK AGAIN!" She squeals, squeezing Rosalina as hard as she can. Rosalina didn't mind, as usual. She pats Adelenn on the head a few times. "I know. I sensed your presence long before you arrived." She smiles brightly.

She then looks towards the other heroes. "Thank you, my children. You have yet to disappoint me, and I am glad of your work. Th-"

She pauses for a moment. She senses the presence of something powerful just nearby, and it wasn't Link. "…Lady Rosalina? What's happening?" Geno asks, nervous about what she's going through. 'Is something terrible about to happen? She usually does this when such an event is about to occur.' He thinks to himself.

Rosalina then smiles at Geno. "You have brought a powerful friend, Link. That Pokémon you obtained is no ordinary one. Come. Bring it to me and I will explain why." She says, pointing at Soulola. "Abso?" She wonders. "She's talking about you, baby." Link says to Soulola, who looks back at him. "Sol?" She asks him. "No, she's not gonna hurt you. She's our friend. She wants to see something." He explains.

Immediately, Soulola feels no nervousness. Link convinced her that Rosalina was a friend, and so she wasn't scared anymore. Link holds out Soulola to Rosalina. She didn't pick her up, but investigated all parts of her body.

"Hmmm… Mmmm… Mmmhmm…" Rosalina makes noises of understanding as she investigates Soulola. She mostly looks at her, but is compelled to rub parts like her ear and stomach. Soulola decided to lick Link's hands in the meantime. "That tickles, Soulola!" He smiles. Soulola smiles back. "Absol!" She barks.

"It is as I thought." Rosalina finishes. "Your Absol is an especially powerful Pokémon, even for its size. It is equivalent to a power level of 91. It is also two months old. That makes it especially young, and therefore it is talented. However, there is one thing that stands out the most. This is no normal Absol…"

"Soulola is in her Megargantuan Evolution. You may find that its synonym is 'Mega Evolution.'"

Everyone gasps. "Wh-wh-WHAT!?" Patricia, Lupo and Vivian gasp. They seem to know what a Mega Evolution is. "Cool! Lucky find!" Jaraberutzu says. "Oooooh, so it's super-duper powerful! I like that!" Adelenn jumps up and down.

"RAAAAWR!" RAWR was very happy that Soulola has achieved Mega Evolution and starts clapping for her. Soulola, however, didn't know what was going on. "Sol?" She asks. "You are a really powerful Pokémon, Soulola! Awesome!" Link compliments her, and rubs his head against small Soulola. "Abso!" She barks proudly.

"There is one thing I forgot to mention." Rosalina interrupts. Everybody looks at her. "What is it, Lady Rosalina?" Mario asks. "Megargantuan Evolution only occurs when another entity touches a Megargantuan Ring, Charm or Brace that is in proximity to the Pokémon's designated Megargantuite, or Mega Stone. That is the law of Megargantum. But did you notice that Link lacks a Mega Ring?"

Link does not have a Mega Ring, Mega Charm or Mega Brace, which further proves Rosalina's point. "Yeah… you're right. Link doesn't have those things…" Lupo agrees, but is ultimately confused. How could such a thing happen?

"You see, the reason why this is happening is because Soulola was born with a chunk of Megargantuite in her sickled ear. Being genetically bonded with this substance allows her to stay in her Megargantuan Evolution. Not only that, but if this sickle ever comes off, it will grow back WITH the Mega Stone."

Everyone gasps again. "Whoa…" Link mumbles to himself as he stares at Soulola. "Abso Ab, Sol So-Sol?" She asks Link. "No, cutey-pie. You're not a bad Absol. You're a good Absol!" He rubs his nose again on Soulola's body. Soulola happily growls when this happens; almost like a soft purr. "Absool." She whispers.

Rosalina stands silent for a moment. She has a look of concern on her face after looking at Adelenn a few times. 'Hmmm… What to do…' Rosalina thinks to herself. She looks at Adelenn a few times. "You nine go ahead and do what you need to do with the Crystal Sun. Geno, I must speak with you privately." Rosalina immediately says afterward.

"Yes!" Mario states, and with the other eight heroes, he heads to Sky Sanctum. "See ya later, Geno!" Adelenn smiles and waves back at him. Geno waves back. "See ya, Adelenn!" He says back with a bright smile. "That girl is something else, you know." Geno mumbles.

"I know…" Rosalina whispers. She sits down on a nearby chair. "I have watched all of you grow. You grow in such a heartwarming and welcoming way, and it moves me so much. Your power is bestowed on your friends, which make each and every one of you shine even brighter than ever." She smiles. Geno smiles back. "I know, Mama. You've been watching us since we've gathered."

"But… what is really making you concerned? I can see the look on your face." He replies back. She looks away for a moment. "I guess I cannot hide anything from my 7777777th child at all. Lucky Geno." She mutters.

"It is about my darling Adelenn. She is a Demon, am I correct?" She asks. Geno nods. "Yes, Mama. Adelenn is certainly a Demon from this planet and surprisingly, not from Gendola, the former Demon planet. Jaraberutzu was born in this planet, too. To be more precise, the BeanBean Kingdom." Geno replies.

"All of that is true. However, the one I fear for the most is Adelenn. She is changing, Geno. She is about to take the next step in Demon Lore… I have no knowledge on what might happen when she achieves this power. My own mother refuses to give me a sign." She replies back. Geno was quite confused, though. "The only real change that Adelenn will experience is a boost in strength and Dark Aura. She's going to be a Demon Lord, if that's the c-"

Rosalina stands up immediately, and the chair behind her breaks into thousands of pieces as she looks at it. "WRONG." She growls. Her eyes gleam with fear and ferocity at the same time. Geno gulps when he sees this. 'Uh oh.' He thinks to himself. "Adelenn is NOT going to become a Demon Lord, Geno. From everything that I have seen so far was even more substantial than that. The changes that took place when Adelenn turned from a Demon Child to a Demon was drastic."

"She will not become a Demon Lord."

"She will become the Demon Queen."

Silence. Geno couldn't move. Geno didn't want to move, anyway. He was hit with a wall of shock as soon as Rosalina uttered those words. 'Demon Queen…' His inner voice echoes. If Rosalina was correct, Adelenn would be the first Demon Queen that he's seen in millennia. The last Demon Queen he saw when he was 25,000 years old. She was very destructive the first week of becoming the Demon Queen. She was a very demanding and powerful woman, and strangely disappeared from history, and from sight. He can't recall what she looked like.

"Lady Rosalina… when did you know of this?" Geno asks, his eyebrows pointing downward, and his eyes focused on Rosalina's face. "Only recently. The changes were becoming increasingly noticeable. I had already known beforehand, but I merely shrugged it off like a fool. I am very disappointed with myself to not be able to tell you earlier." She frowns.

Geno crosses his arms after listening to Rosalina speak. "It's okay, Mama. You can't keep everything a secret, though. It doesn't help us in the long run." He accepts his mother's apology. She smiles in return. "Thank you. I must tell you that the transformation may increase in speed when the Demon Queen is provoked. As I am able to tell, Adelenn may transform in between a matter of hours and a week. Be wary of this, my child." She finishes.

"…Thank you, Mama." Geno smiles. "I'll put everything that you say into account, but I won't speak of it to anybody else; not even Adelenn."

As he is about to get up, Rosalina holds his hand. "Wait. There is one more thing I must tell you." She cautiously says. She pulls out a letter from her dress, along with a box that was wrapped like a gift. "Your older sister #&? sent this to you. She's finally learned to write in Modern Hylian." She smiles.

Geno takes both the present and the letter. First, he opens up the letter. Inside is a beautifully handwritten letter in Modern Hylian language. It was also quite blue, which is Geno's favorite color.

"Dear !?..." He reads aloud. "This is your older sister #&?, from the Chocolate Milky Way Galaxy. You know me as the fourth one who bears this name. I'm glad that I've been able to write to you. We've only met each other once, and that was when you were born forty-thousand years ago. However, I did not forget about you. Enclosed with this letter is something that I know you will love dearly. Please except it. From, #&?." He reads.

He was surprised any of his family remember him. So curiosity led him to open the package. It was wrapped brilliantly, so Geno had trouble finding a way to open it without completely ripping open the gift wrap. When he did, he found a white box. "Hmm…" He wonders what's inside of it.

He removes the lid from the box. When he looks inside, he freezes up. "WHOA." He gasps.

Inside was a clean, blue hat that was just like his. It was slightly bigger, and it had the design of a Luma on it rather than just a normal star. It was obviously cleaner than his own, and it shined brighter than his own. "This hat… THIS HAT!" He shouts happily. A smile beams on his face as he puts his old one in a magical pocket. He puts this next one on.

"It's… it's beautiful." He gazes at it. Although it hardly looks any different from his first hat, he was completed when he got this hat. "Tell #&? That she's a wonderful older sister." He smirks while giving Rosalina a thumbs-up.

She gives him a thumbs-up in reply. "Your friends approach this spot." She says to Geno. Surely enough, they were. Mario and the other heroes were casually jogging towards Geno. Mario waves the Magical Map in the air to grab his attention.

However, he was tackled by fearsome Adelenn. "We're baaaack!" She says, completely on top of Geno. "Oh, uh… hey. I can see that very clearly from down here." He chuckles. "Oh, okay! We just wanted to tell you where we were gonna go next! We're gonna have a great time!" She smiles back.

"You two lovebirds done flirting? We've got a serious one this time." Link shifts his feet around. He was getting excited, and Patricia knew it. "Hey… not cool." Geno frowns at him for his snarky comment. "Link's about to take off, so we might as well go through it now." Vivian pitches in. "Mario, give him the details."

"Got it." Mario replies. He crouches down to show Geno the map. "Look here. You know what this place is?" Mario asks him. Geno looks at him as though he was crazy. "You kidding me? This is Princess Peach's Cast-"

He stops himself short, realizing what he had just said. "Wait what did you just say to me?" He says to himself, pointing at the air. He now understands why Princess Peach's castle was so significant this time around.

Princess Peach's Castle is white on the outside, as it was constructed with marble bricks. The rooftops are red. There is a large tower in the center with a flag representing the Mushroom Kingdom territory. The castle itself was enormous, carrying a front yard, a small backyard, a moat, four floors, and even a small waiting room. However, those parts were only for gazing. The other places like the bedrooms and such are hidden deep inside of the castle.

"Not only that, Geno, but the Crystal Sun even displays some pop-ups on where we even need to go! Take a look!" He adds. Geno takes a closer look to find a place that looks like a giant cave. The cave had spiders, moving platforms, Bob-Ombs, and even hats. In the middle of it all was a Purple Crystal Sun.

"This is…" Geno looks at Mario. He nods back at Geno. They both knew what this place is.

"The Hazy Maze Cave…" Geno whispers. "Hey, don't you two know what it's like in there?" Jaraberutzu says. She hasn't been to the Hazy Maze Cave before, so she would have no clue about how it was.

"Treacherous." Mario answers. "That cave is not suited for the faint of heart, and a lot of heroes have died in there exploring its depths. Even talking about it gives me the shivers. Mama Mia…" Mario didn't like talking about the Hazy Maze Cave. The last time he was in there, he almost lost Luigi to the bottomless pit.

"So, why does it explain the castle?" Vivian asks. "The thing is, the portal to that cave is IN the castle." Link replies. Vivian gasps when she hears this. "Well, that's not cool at all… now we have to get in somehow." Patricia replies.

"Don't worry! Mario's girlfriend will let us in! She's welcoming of all of Mario's guests!" Link waves his finger in the air. He was confident. "The Princess never rejected us before, so why not!? Let's go!" He shouts, walking towards the direction of the Observatory's main hall.

It only took him a few seconds to realize Mario and his friends weren't following him. "E-eh? Why aren't you guys following me?" He grits his teeth, slightly annoyed that his leadership didn't faze them at all. "Oh, come on! I've been spending hours trying to be a good role model!"

"…Peach broke up with me. I thought you knew." Mario mutters. He lowers his cap so that nobody could see his face. "Huh? Why is that?" Link asks in disbelief. It was so unheard of, so sudden to Link. 'It couldn't be real,' he thinks. 'Princess Peach is such a lovable person.'

Mario told him about the situation as he saw it. The tax increase, suddenly being on the top most wanted, and the other things. "That doesn't sound like Princess Peach at all." Link says after all of this. Mario nods. "I know. It was all so sudden, and so out of the norm." He says back.

"Do you… do you think she was on her pe-"

"SHUT UP, STUPID!" Patricia screams in his ear, punching him square in the face. She knew what he was about to say. This time, he ACTUALLY felt a little bit of pain. "Ow." He groans with disinterest. "Don't you EVER say that again, you hear me!? Or else you'll feel the sting of A THOUSAND BEES!" She points her Mighty Shot at Link and was setting it to stun. "Jeez, fine. I didn't know it was inappropriate." He whispers.

Soulola was rolling on the floor, laughing at Link. "Absoooo!" She barks, giggling every now and then. Link huffs and puffs. "Oh, so you wanna laugh, too?" He smirks as he rubs her stomach. "I know you're tickliiiish!" He continues until he wears out Soulola.

"Rawr." RAWR barks. He tries to get everyone back to the task at hand. "Sorry, buddy. We'll focus." Lupo replies. "Anyway, how do you suggest we get in that castle?"

"We'll have to sneak our way in. That's going to be our most useful strategy. We can't be caught by Princess Toadstool, or she would be alerted to our intrusion." Geno struggles to say, as Adelenn was still on top of him. "Could you PLEASE get off of me, Adelenn?"

Without any warning or hesitation, she gives Geno a light kiss on his cheek. "Okay!" She smiles, and gets off of Geno, who didn't move. "G…Guh…" He blushes immensely, and everybody notices it. "Oh my." Rosalina whispers to herself.

"Why would we need to hide from the castle guards? They're only Toads." Lupo scoffs.

"Normally, you would have a point, but there's one thing that you overlooked. Have you ever wondered why the Princess is always kidnapped by surprise? It's because she can fight. She can fight EXTREMELY well, too. Princess Peach is ALSO a guild member at Super Smash Brothers." Mario answers her.

Lupo's eyes open. "N-no way. SHE'S a fighter, too!? What tier is she?"

"I know I've said that there are three S-tiers, but those were the three S-tiers of the first Super Smash Brothers generation, when there were only twelve of us. Princess Peach was enrolled during the Melee generation. Basically what I'm saying is…"

"She's an S-tier." Mario explains. "THAT'S why we can't be spotted. If she does, she could endanger one of us, and we can't let that happen. Plus, if Link goes berserk again, we'll have another issue on our hands." He glares at Link with a sad frown.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Being an S-tier isn't as awesome as you'd think it is." Link sighs. Patricia holds his hand when he isn't looking. "It's okay, you're the toughest person I know. Don't let something like being unable to fight let you down. It's not good for anyone's health." She says in a soothing manner. Link grabs Patricia's oily hair in response. "Thanks, hun." Link smiles.

The heroes all turn to Rosalina. They were done negotiating the plan. "Lady Rosalina… would you happen to have a Warp Pipe leading to Princess Peach's castle?" Vivian asks her.

She nods. "Fortunately, I do. I always have. It may not seem like it, but one of my later children created the castle itself. He created a Warp Pipe for me in case I ever wanted to see it for myself. It shall take you to the garden right in front of the castle."

With a snap of her fingers, a Green Warp Pipe emerges right in front of the Terrace Dome. "The odds of travel success are in your favor, my children." She smiles. Everyone else smiles back. "Indeed, it is! Thanks, Mom-dukes." Patricia gives Rosalina a thumbs-up.

"YAY! LET'S GO KICK SOME DEATH BUTT!" Adelenn squeals. She hops and skips towards the Warp Pipe. "Come on guys, let's go!" She encourages the other heroes to follow her, and so they do. "Absol!" Soulola barks happily, tugging on Link's pants.

"You're excited too, huh? I thought so!" He rubs Soulola's head, and she smiles. He then picks up Soulola and tries to find a place to carry her. "Huh… I don't have a Pokéball… I guess I'll have to use something else." He says to himself.

He checks around his Adventure Pouch to see if there was anything he could carry Soulola in. For a moment he could find nothing. That is, until he realizes that he has a bag connected to a belt. It was nice and large; it could fit two Pokémon of Soulola's size.

"Eureka." He says, and puts Soulola inside of the bag. He keeps it open so that Soulola can pop her head in. Soulola walks around in the bag for a moment out of pure curiosity. "Soool?" She asks Link. "It's a place where you can rest! You can also take your head out and enjoy the nice breeze." He explains.

Soulola immediately loves the bag and starts hopping around in it. She wouldn't stop until she became tired. Link slings the bag around his shoulder, and places the bag in front of him. "This nice little messenger bag should do the trick. Pokéballs are kinda stuffy, from what I've heard." He fans the air around him as though a foul smell leaked through.

"Before we go, though, we gotta give Rosalina THAT." Link suddenly says.

Rosalina was unsure of what Link was talking about. She glared at him for a second. 'That…?' She asks herself in her mind. 'What do they possibly want with me?'

Suddenly, Link goes up to Rosalina and gives her a mighty warm hug. "Oh my!" Rosalina blushes. She was caught off guard by Link's hug.

"We'll be seeing you later, Lady Rosalina. We just want to say goodbye first." Link whispers in her ear. "ALRIGHT, PEOPLE! GROUP HUG!" He shouts at his friends. Suddenly, the entire team (including RAWR) huddles up together, and they all hug each other.

'Wait, a group hug!? Here?' Rosalina panics. She's never performed a group hug with mortals before.

"We're gonna be the best, Rosalina!" Vivian and Lupo shout together.

"Count on us to save the day, Lady Rosalina!" Geno smirks.

"We'll be back soon, darling. Please be patient. Teehee!" Jaraberutzu smiles devilishly.

"I'm gonna eat cake when I get back here! I hope it's the best cake ever!" Adelenn giggles, her wing flapping wildly.

"Mama Mia! We'll see you later!" Mario hold his cap up to smile.

"RAWR!" RAWR barks and licks Rosalina.

"Absol! Absol! Absoool!" Soulola says, excited by all of the commotion going on.

Even more sudden was that the ten heroes raise an arm upward. "Our light is special. We make it special. We save the light of civilians, friends, and family alike. We're the wonderful light. We're unstoppable light! We're loving light! CARING LIGHT! HONEST LIGHT! HEROES OF LIGHT!" They all shout, with the exception of Soulola and RAWR.

"We're the Suns of the Sky."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO END.


	24. 23: Toad You So

Chapter Twenty-Three: Toad You So

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 4

Rosalina's smile lights up all of the heroes. Their hero chant makes Rosalina a very proud individual. She feels like she succeeded in making these heroes into something special. She couldn't help but shed a tear of happiness, as well.

"Go, my children. Make me proud once again!" She happily states as she waves the heroes a goodbye. All of the heroes wave back at her as they enter the Warp Pipe to the princess' castle. After a moment, there was silence once again throughout the Cosmic Observatory.

"…Solitude is more bearable when there is something remarkable to look forward to. Those children know what they are doing, Mama. May you bestow good fortune upon all ten of them. They might need it in the future." Rosalina speaks to the stars, where her mother's spirit rests. She then disappears into the Bedroom, where she rests for the moment.

A FEW SECONDS LATER…

The smell of fruits upon trees was everywhere in this small, isolated part of the Mushroom Kingdom. There were many trees in a front yard, all arranged in a way that makes them convenient for pictographs and sightseeing. In front of all of these trees were small hills that lead to an enormous castle, tiled with marble bricks and red rooftops. There were flags posted on each tower. There were two small towers and one large tower. They had many windows across them for the Mushroom Kingdom Royal Family to look through.

Under the drawbridge is a small moat filled with water. There wasn't much else in there besides a hidden door made of metal. It was barricaded with Titanium, making it very hard to get into discreetly. There were some fish in this moat, but there was an occasional Vaporeon that passed by whenever fish were available to eat.

"Darn it, Nas T.! That's the second time you tried to eat a Vaporeon!" Says a nearby Toad guard. All Toads are small humanoids that have an afro that surprisingly makes their head look like a mushroom. Their afro is also in polka-dots, and is not made of hair at all, but is actually a part of their skull. They're very much like humans in terms of strength, though.

"Well… you smell terrible, Dir T. Did you even take a bath before you took your post!?" Says the Green Toad named Nas T. He shook his head. "Uh, no. Mom told me not to!" Says the Yellow Toad named Dir T. "She says that if I take a bath, I'll spontaneously shrink, man!"

"Oh, not this again. Homeslice. Your Mom. Is a Skitty. That you found. In the woods. Think about that for a second, dude. She doesn't NEED to take a bath!" Nas T. shouts aloud. "You KNOW that already, bro. I mean, that's only logical."

Suddenly, a Warp Pipe emerges from the ground several feet in front of the two Toads. They jump in fear of what happened. "Whoa!" Dir. T shouts aloud as he jumps into Nas T.'s hands. "Ewwww! You smell like pickled Piranha poop!" He says, immediately letting go of Dir T.

The Warp Pipe was green, indicating that the heroes were there. Inside, Geno and Adelenn were lurking at the top of the pipe, scheming. "Alright, Adelenn. I can sense two bodyguards. I need you to scare them into the river, so that they'll fall into the water and get sick. They'll have to take the day off if you do that." Geno smiles devilishly. "Hehehe, I want you to act like Bowser, and scare the living heebee-jeebees out of them!"

"Okay." Adelenn nods. In that same instant, she jumps off of Geno's head, and soars into the sky gracefully. She extends her wing to glide, so that her fall doesn't break the floor. "Yippee! This is awesome!" She shouts aloud as she takes a view of the entire scenery. She's never seen the castle before.

The Toads saw the entire thing happen, and they shake in fear. "H-h-h-hey! Y-you there! Stop r-right there! Wh-what have y-you been sent here f-for!?" Shouts Dir T. They each pull out their spears as Adelenn lands right next to the Warp Pipe.

"…Okay… Geno said to something to them and something the heebee-jeebees out of them." Adelenn mumbles as she puts her hand on her chin. The two bodyguards glare at her as they watch her ponder. "Duuude, this girl is more than six feet tall, has a BLACK wing on her right shoulder, AND HAS NO EYE!" Nas T. points out to Dir T. When he notices, his face goes white. "EEEEEEW!" He shouts aloud.

"…I GOT IT!" Adelenn shouts as she assumes the fact that she remembers what to do.

Immediately, Adelenn gets on her hands, like a frog. "Boing. Boing. Boing." She says as she hops towards the two Toad guards. When she stops, she scratches her neck like a cat. She sniffs the air like a fox. This was unsettling towards the Toads. "…I'm scared. Hug me, bro." Says Dir T. "NO! We can fight this woman. She's just acting weird. We can WIN!" Nas T. replies.

She then hops towards them one last time before uttering the forbidden language of animals.

"…Woof." She smiles.

"…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! SHE'S A FEMALE DOG-BEAST! RUN!" They both shout as they immediately jump into the water headfirst.

"Geno would be proud of me! I did exactly what he asked me to!" She shouts happily, as she claps her hands and giggles cheerfully. 'THAT IS NOT EXACTLY WHAT I ASKED YOU TO DO, WOMAN!' He shouts furiously in his mind. He scrunches his hands up in anger. Mario laughs. "Hehehe, that was funny." He says. He gets a nasty glare from Patricia, and stops giggling.

With that, the other heroes jump out of the Warp Pipe silently, trying their best not to make a ruckus. Link had no choice but to silently clap for Adelenn. "Bravo, Adelenn. That was some of the finest work I've ever seen." He states with a complete poker face while continuing to clap.

"Shh! There's no time for that, Link. We need to get inside the castle." Jaraberutzu places her finger on Link's mouth, quieting him instantly. "Oh, uh… sorry." He smiles, scratching his head. She moves away and towards Vivian.

"You. You can lurk in the shadows, correct?" Jaraberutzu asks Vivian. She nods. "Well, yes I can. I've never tried it with nine other people before. I've never even tried it on Pokémon either!" Vivian explains. Jaraberutzu turns around and laughs. "Like that's gonna stop us." She scoffs.

"I need you to take Lupo, the Pokémon and Patricia into the shadows with you. They'll make the most noise if they walk around. Especially Patricia, with all of that machinery in her body." She explains, but Patricia gives her a nasty look. "Hey, not ALL of my body is robotic. There are… a few parts of me." She hesitates to finish, but is too embarrassed to.

"Oh yeaaaah!" Link remembers something Patricia told him. "Like that one par-"

Suddenly, Patricia roughly kisses him on the mouth. "What happened, Link? It sounded like you were gonna go somewhere underground." She asks him after four seconds. Mario has his mouth wide open, and looks at Geno, who also had his mouth open. They look back at Patricia in awe.

Link pauses for a moment before going back to what he was saying. "…Your head! You have an amazingly powerful titanium skull. That's what you said, riiiiight?" Link smiles. Lupo lowers her eyes in disapproval. "Sure, Link. That's what you were talking about." She says.

"Anyway, I think Jara's right. Vivian needs to travel with some of us under the shadows so that we can't arouse suspicion. We should also take out any guards if necessary." Lupo continues. "So, you were going to take me, Patricia, and the Pokémon?"

"Absoo!" Soulola barks happily as she jumps into Vivian's hands. RAWR casually walks towards Vivian as well. "Rawr." He mumbles. Adelenn gasps. "Oooooh, RAWR said a bad word. He said 'this is stupid'." She whispers in Geno's ear. "…That's not a bad word at all." He smiles. "I think it is!" She frowns and pouts.

"…Why not Adelenn? She'll get us in trouble really easily if she's not careful." Lupo says. Jaraberutzu merely laughs. "Haha! We need Adelenn to either beat up or scare the guards so that they can't tattle to the princess." She smirks.

"Yeah! We need Adelenn to beat up everybody!" Adelenn shouts aloud. "Now, which one is Adelenn again?" She looks at the other nine heroes to find Adelenn. She then points at herself unintentionally. "Wait, that's me! Hehe, silly me." She giggles.

As they walk towards the doors of the castle, they notice that it was about to open. "Alright, initiate plan A. Let's go." Jaraberutzu whispers. Instantly, Vivian pulls the Pokémon, Lupo and Patricia into the shadows. Geno and Jaraberutzu hide in the shadows that were conveniently next to the door. Mario puts on a suit that looks like a Tanooki, and it turns him into a statue of a Toad. Link carries Adelenn and hides under the bridge using his trusty Longshot.

Vivian's shadow slowly approaches the door as it opens. Her veil technique was perfect, and nobody was able to see her. When the door opens, a regular Toad, crying, steps outside of the castle and walks back to Toad Town. With this advantage, Vivian takes her friends into the castle without being detected.

"Shhh. Don't make a sound, Adelenn. We can't afford being caught." Link whispers. Adelenn nods to show that she was listening, and puts her hands on her mouth. With his other Longshot in his mouth, he shoots into the nearest wall cleanly, and slings himself and Adelenn towards the door. They don't enter as they await Vivian's signal.

Vivian's body can extend to her will, and she extends her head outside of the door, popping out of the red carpet lining the floor. "Okay, the coast seems to be clear here. Be on your guard, though." Vivian states. "Ab." Soulola adds cheerfully, looking for Link. When she finds him, she claws at him, trying to reach him. She frowns when she couldn't.

Link decides to enter first. He unsheathes the Master Sword, and slowly opens the door. He peers his head inside, looking for any Toads that might be scouting the area. Fortunately, there weren't any to be found, so Link and Adelenn press on, with Mario, Jaraberutzu and Geno follow shortly behind.

Inside, red carpets aligned the entire floor. There were many doors and paths, each leading to a specific painting in the castle. The inner walls were painted as though it was a sky, and many clouds were plastered across the room. This place was meant for means such as royal parties and tourism. However, Princess Peach has not used this section of the castle very much, which was a large advantage for the heroes.

Link quietly shuts the door behind him, and wipes the sweat off of his face. "Glad we finally got through. I thought we were gonna get caught!" He smiles as he takes off his hat. "Me too. Those Toads that were screaming could've totally blown our cover!" Mario replies.

"Marioooo. Where do we go now!? We got in the castle, so did we win?" Adelenn whispers, trying not to catch the Guards' attention. "No, not yet. We have to go into the basement. Luckily, I still have the key to it."

When he tries to pull out a key from his pocket, a scepter comes out instead. Mario was rightfully confused. "Mama Mia, I don't remember EVER putting this here. Who jammed the Vibe Scepter into my pocket?" He scratches his head in confusion. Link quietly snorts in laughter. "Hehehe…" He smiles deviously.

The second time was successful and he pulls out a giant key with horns on the head of the key. It was solid gold, and looked dated. "Ah, here it is! It's a good thing I'm super smart." Mario states. "Good going, Mario," Vivian whispers. "Now where do we go!?"

He points at a wooden door that was right next to the staircase leading to the second floor. "There. There should be stairs that lead downward and into the second floor. If we're lucky enough, we won't bump into anybody in th-"

"Heeey! Someone left a meat package here!" Adelenn shouts, pointing at the floor. Geno decides to take a look for himself, and discovers that it is actually a package of bacon labeled "BACON" on the front. "…Hm… what could this be doing here…?" Geno wonders. However, as he was wondering, Adelenn took the entire package.

She eats a slice of the raw bacon. "Yuuuum! Why can't I have this back at home, Geno!?" She says, stuffing her mouth with more slices. "Oh my goodness. Woman! You're not supposed to eat raw food! That's not a very ladylike thing to do!" Geno whispers angrily.

"Not to mention you could get yourself killed like that had you not been immune to Red Virus." Link adds as he eats a cooked slice of bacon. "…When did you do that?" Patricia asks Link as she snatches another piece from him, and eats it. "Sorry… won't do it again!" Adelenn whispers.

"Intruders! Who are you scoundrels that are invading Mistress Peach's fine castle!?" Shouts a voice from the entrance of the castle door.

"Uh oh!" Everybody turns around to look at who was speaking. It was an elder Toad, who had brown polka-dots on his Mushroom afro. He wore a purple coat opened with a purple dress shirt inside. He was older, and had a white mustache like Mario's. He also had a cane with a brown mushroom on its hilt. He wore glasses, but nobody could tell if they were in use or not.

"Toadsworth? Mama Mia, What are you doing here?" Mario asks.

The Toad named Toadsworth jumps up for a moment, realizing who we was talking to. "M-M-M-Master Mario? I-is that really you? Old chap!?" He started to swell up in nostalgia. He hasn't seen Mario for quite a while, and was missing his company quite much.

He drops his cane and opens his mouth wide. "Master Mario! It's been three months! Three months too long! Where have you BEEN all this time?" He starts dashing towards the red plumber and hugs him in a friendly manner. "Hey, Toadsworth! Long time no see." Mario smiles happily.

"Why did you suddenly disappear, Mario!? I've been hearing all sorts of things about you, and ALL of them have been terrible! What happened during this time!?" Toadsworth backs away to show him a wanted list of Mario, Geno and Link. "You, Master Geno and Master Link have all been wanted for treason! You and Master Geno are worth one million Coins, and Master Link is wanted for two Golden Flowers! It's an outrage!"

"I'm glad that you were worried about us," Mario begins. "But I don't have much time to explain. We haven't done anything wrong in the past few months. The Princess suddenly kicked me out of the castle, and I have no idea why. We're on our way to the Hazy Maze Cave. We need to retrieve something quickly."

Toadsworth took a moment to think. "Hmm… Ahh… I see now. So this is a setup. You do not really intend to harm anyone. That's good, Master Mario. I'm glad that you are not actually in treason. But you best be careful. The princess is not very happy." He says before glaring at Adelenn. "Hoohoo, I say. Who is the strange woman with long, orange hair, Lady Vivian? She is eating that bacon I dropped on the floor by accident. I was coming here to pick it up."

"Oh, that's Adelenn, our friend." She smiles happily at Toadsworth. "Adelenn! Why don't you say hi to this nice Toad over here? He's not looking to harm us!" She calls out to her.

Adelenn turns around to look at Vivian. "Cool! It's a good Toad that doesn't want to stab us with pointy things!" She states as she hops in place.

However, something about her Voided Eye was different. Along with it going into nothing but darkness, there was something excreting from it. It was not a tear at all, but a black, sticky liquid that didn't seem to stop. When it hits the ground, it makes a dissatisfying slapping sound. It did so in large chunks, and it was highly toxic to normal beings.

Toadsworth jumps in his own skin, and falls on his back in pure fear. "ACK! By GEORGE, what happened to your eye, my Lady!? It's as though it was ripped from your poor skull!" He says. However, Adelenn was confused. "Huh? What do you mean? I've always had my one eye! Isn't it pretty!? Everyone says it's red!" She smiles, the black liquid still running down her face.

Geno investigates by looking at the oozing liquid from up close. "…Hmm… interesting. It looks like it's something only a Demon can do. Jaraberutzu… have you ever done this before?" Geno directs his question to the only other Demon around. "Yeah, it was around the same time I transformed into Demon Lord. However… it wasn't black liquid, it was blood." Jaraberutzu replies.

"Hmm… then what might this ooze be, Master Geno? Might it be that same substance from Delfino Island? I dare say, It was quite a mess Mario had to clean last time!" Toadsworth asks, still backing slowly away from Adelenn. Geno takes a sample of the liquid and looks at it. "Oh, this is interesting!" He smirks.

"Rawr?" RAWR asks. "Sol! Sol Absol!" Soulola answers, saying that it must be icky and gross. It might be dangerous, she even adds. RAWR looks at Soulola with an unbelieving glare. "Rwr." He replies back, which led Soulola to run back to Vivian.

"So it turns out this is mana, but it accumulated into a liquid. Excess mana such as this is dangerous for weak-willed people. However, it won't harm any of us, not even Mr. Toadsworth." He explains. "However, we should move quickly before this stuff leaves a trail. Adelenn, now's the time where you need to use a napkin to clean up your mess."

He hands Adelenn a box of soft napkins. They were meant to clean up heavy liquids such as juices, oils and water. "Thank you, Geno! I'm going to use these to beat up the next people!" She smiles as she takes one, and starts pummeling Geno with it. "Those are not for battles, those are for cleaning up yourself, silly!" Lupo snickers as she covers her mouth with her hands. Adelenn proceeds to beat up Lupo with the napkin as well. "Silence! Your leader demands cookies and bacon! In the same box thing! Go!" She tries to command Lupo, who does not budge at all.

"Yeah, so we have to go now, Toadsworth. Tell nobody else about this meeting. We can't afford to be captured when we have a major task to do." Mario finishes as he opens the door. "See ya next time!" He smiles, and lets everybody into the wooden door.

When inside, there was a hallway leading to the backyard to the left, and to the right was a staircase leading downward, into the basement. Fortunately, that was all there was to find. There were no guards lingering around.

"Strange… doesn't this place have security cameras? I would've been able to spot them, but it doesn't seem like any exist." Lupo wonders. Mario shakes his head. "No, Lupo. There are no cameras. Something worse lays behind this door that we just passed…" He mumbles.

"And stinkier…"

Suddenly, a large explosion comes from the ground upward, directly next to Adelenn! "Whoa!" She shouts as she drops the entire box of napkins. The nearby debris hits Adelenn directly in the mouth, but she felt no pain from it. The other heroes block with their arms crossed, and they make it without injuries.

"WAAAHHHAHAHA! IT'S-A GO TIME!" Says a voice that sounds from the vacant crater that was made in the ground. Mario puts his arms up in a fighting position, awaiting the figure to strike. However, the figure behind the smoke was dusting the debris off of himself.

The smoke clears, and it reveals a large, fat but muscular man with purple overalls, paired with a yellow shirt and hat with a W emblem on it. He also wore green, pointy shoes that were crooked. His gloves were white, but also share the same emblem on his hat.

"Wa! Wa! WARIO TIME!" The man shouts.

"No no no no no! Not-a you again! Ugh, Mama Mia." Mario buries his face into his hand once more upon the sight of his other cousin, Wario. Wario and Mario share a terrible chemistry with each other, and their rivalry still continues today.

"ALRIGHT! The princess told me you were up to no good, so that means I get to be the HERO now, Mario! WAAHAHAHAHAH!" He shouts in the air and flexes his muscles. "Oho! I shall start by fighting the toughest of all of you! Now, which one is it?" He wonders, looking at all ten of the heroes.

The heroes all look at Link, and he smiles. "Glad to know we're all in agreement, then." He says as he pats Soulola's head. "Abso." She barks quietly as she kisses Link's nose. "Yeah, I'll be carefu-"

"No, not YOU! I wanna save you for last! Give me a REAL challenge!" Wario shouts at him, waiting for someone else to appear before him.

Everybody unanimously looks at Adelenn this time. She was confused because everyone was looking at her. "Huh? Why are you guys looking at me! I didn't do anything!" She frowns. "We want you to fight this guy. Go kick his butt!" Patricia shouts. "Yeah, his butt is SO gonna be toast when you're done with him!" Jaraberutzu replies.

"Oh, okay!" Adelenn smiles as she walks up to Wario and holds her hand out. "Hiya! What's your name?" She asks.

He refuses her hand and answers only. "I'm-a Wario. Mario's toughest and baddest rival. Prepare to lose, and cry like a little girl!" He shouts proudly. He then eats a flower. It was not a Fire Flower, but instead, it was a Power Flower. Power Flowers unleash hidden powers inside of the user.

Wario turned completely metal when this happens. "WAHA! You cannot beat me now! I am METAL WARIO!" He yells. Adelenn starts fidgeting, and holds her chest tightly. "But waaaaait! I didn't get to introduce myself!" She cries aloud.

"Wah!? What is it?" He shouts. "Okay, okay! My name is Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra! I am 25 years old, and I'm the 2nd Death of Fear! I can control ghosties! I'm also a girl in case you didn't notice!" She explains. "…I can see that." Wario replies blandly. "Now let's get this done."

Wario attempts to strike with a hook from his left hand, and Adelenn ducks under it with no effort at all. "Why do we have to fight again, Soulola!? I can't remember." She says to the Absol as she continues to dodge more punches from Metal Wario. "Sol!" She barks loudly. "Ohhh, that's why? He's mean and wants to hurt us!? Well I won't let that happen!" She replies with a giggle.

"Don't let your guard down, fool!" Wario shouts as he punches Adelenn in the face, and into the wall. The wall crumbles around Adelenn. "Waha! That was fantastic!" Wario shouts aloud, arms akimbo to his waist.

Geno smiles. "Heh. This is pretty interesting." He mumbles cheerfully. Soon enough, Adelenn simply gets up from the crumbling wall. "Well, that's not very nice! You punched me when I wasn't looking! Now I'm gonna return the favor by punching you back!" Her eye starts to ooze out more mana.

Suddenly, she disappears from sight. It was a flash, and Wario lost sight of her immediately. "Whoa… Where did she go…?"

Adelenn appears right in front of Wario and uppercuts his chin. The attack was so powerful that it sent Wario through the roof and into the first floor once again. Adelenn jumps into it to continue the fight with Wario.

"YEAH! That's what happens when you punch girls in the face when they don't look!" She giggles and claps her hands several times. When Wario gets up, one of his front teeth are missing, and in Metal form as well. He breathes heavily, the attack did quite a number on his face.

"Waaaa… That was incredibly tough. I could've died from that hit." He breathes heavily, his guard lowering. "Wait, you're done already? Awwww! I wanted to fight some more!" She starts to stomp the ground in a slight tantrum. She was amped: the feeling of being attacked was incredible, since she was hardly affected by any of Wario's blows.

However, Wario was fast. He retaliates with fists flying, sending them in every kind of direction as to attack Adelenn. But Adelenn was too quick; she was able to deflect all of his punches. Even if Wario increased his own speed, he was no match for Adelenn's deflecting skill.

"Sooooo… are you done yet? You've been trying to punch me for two minutes! I'm pretty sure you're tired now!" She puts up nine fingers. However, she was right. Wario was getting worn out by Adelenn's agility. "Waah… I've never fought an opponent this fast before." He pants, gasping for air. "So does that mean you have now?" Adelenn wonders. She puts her finger on her lips to think. "Do you want to stop fighting now? Or are you still good?"

"SHUT UP!" Wario shouts at Adelenn, and throws one final punch at her.

But before it could land, she makes a quick enchantment. "Ghost Tactic 4. Explosion." She mumbles.

Suddenly, a Ghost wraps around Wario, and holds him in place. He couldn't move at all, and instead of trying to hit Adelenn, his new goal was to escape. However, Adelenn had set a counter. "Five… Four… Two? No, it's three…" She counts down tremendously slowly, as she hasn't mastered counting.

"Uh… what comes after three, Mr. Wario?" She asks. He stupidly answers back. "Uh, two, of course! It's only logic." He snorts. Adelenn smiles. "Two… One…" She whispers. Only then did Wario realize what he did. "…Uh oh."

"Zero!" She smiles.

The ghost lights up in such a manner that it turns red. When it does so, the second later results in a massive explosion. The explosion sends Wario into the ceiling, and back onto the floor. He wouldn't move, but he was not dead. "Whoa… a little overkill, wouldn't you say?" Jaraberutzu comments. Adelenn smiles as she turns away from Wario, who lost his Flower Power's abilities. "Yaaaaay! I won! Now I'm the bestest since I beat Mario's toughest rival!" She puts her index and middle finger, and makes a V shape with them.

"He was hardly as challenging as he said he was, Adelenn…" Mario sighs. He fully acknowledges that Wario didn't live up to Mario's expectations. He was only a B-tier in Super Smash Bros. He stood no chance against Mario, who was an S-tier, placing him two tiers above Wario.

"Let's-e go, before we get caught by someone else." Mario commands the group. The heroes then begin to follow Mario down the flight of stairs. "So, Patricia. Once we finish THIS particular job, wanna train a little bit with me in your gym clothes? You say it's the best way to train." Link smiles, setting a particular plan into motion. 'Hehehe… this is gonna be perfect.' He thinks to himself.

"No way. Not with this many people to snoop on us. You know the dangers of me putting on my gym clothes." She whispers in his ear. He snickers. "What? It'll be dangerous to my eyes, but not much else. Hot like Fiyaa." He snickers, Patricia glaring at him. 'Fool.' She smiles. They then disappear down the flight of stairs with the rest of the heroes…

…

But Jaraberutzu stood behind for a moment. She looks to her left, and then to her right. "Ah, nobody's around, reader. Hehe… This'll be perfect." She says to you. You just nod your head as Jaraberutzu loots Wario's unconscious body. Interestingly enough, she finds three sacks of golden coins. "Heehee! Perfect! This'll be enough money to get ALL the bags I want! Kehe, nobody will even notice!" She laughs mischievously as she flies towards the flight of stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE END?


	25. 24: Link's Secret

Chapter Twenty-Four: Link's Secret

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH MOON: DAY 4

"Come on, Link! Do it faster! Faster!" Patricia shouts, sweating incredibly. It was almost as if she were in a tight situation.

"I know, I know! I'm trying as hard as I can! Don't rush me, please!" Link shouts back. He too, was also sweating. Whatever they were doing, it was quite heated. "Almost there! I can do it! I can DO IT!"

"Faster, Link! Faster! Do it until your face BLEEDS from the pressure! You can handle it!" Patricia screams again.

"Hnnnngh!" Groans Link.

"Rrrrgh!" Moans Patricia.

They were just unlocking the basement door, silly willies.

"YEAAAAAAH!" They both shout freely in the air, and then slapping each other's hands. "Woo! That was awesome! That took me forever to undo!" Lupo smiles. Adelenn began to clap with the Pokemon. "Yaaay! We rock!" Says Adelenn with a beaming grin. "Abso Abso Absol!" Soulola barks cheerfully, jumping up and down in Adelenn's arms.

Geno was rolling with laughter. "You guys… are TOO funny! Stop groaning like that or we'll get caught! HEHEHEHE…" He chuckles, his stomach hurting from his continuous laughing. Mario was not impressed, though. "Guys… we're on an important stealth mission, and we've been doing NOTHING stealthy so far. Compose-a yourselves, people!" Mario exclaims, arms crossed to show that he's losing patience.

"Alright, alright, guys. Let's get serious." Lupo commands, and everyone nods their heads. Vivian takes a look at the Tattle Log, and to her surprise, she finds a small map of the sewers. "So when we pass through this door, there should be a small flight of stairs. I think that's how we're supposed to get to Hazy Maze Cave. Right, Mario?"

"Yeah, that's right. All we need to do is go to the rightmost part of the sewers, and there will be a door with a star on it. When we pass that door, we're as good as gold. Simple, but we have to watch out. Who knows who may have gone in here?" Mario explains.

Link unsheathes his Master Sword. "So we have to be a little careful, huh? Not a problem. Patricia and I are the best at this kind of stuff. I'll make sure we all get through safely." Link grins. "Yeah, me too. This guy's lazier than a fat cat at times. Gotta make sure there's a special someone in his life who'll look after his mistakes." Patricia puffs.

"Oooh! I bet that someone special is you, Patricia!" Adelenn states, pointing at Patricia, who blushes and chuckles in response. "Oh, stop it. It's not like you would know tha-"

"You got to choose, Adelenn. Now it's official that Patricia's my special one." Link says blankly. Patricia stares right back at him. "Wait, what?" Patricia asks. "Adelenn can't just do-"

"Yes I can. Teehee!" Adelenn giggles and walks right into the door. Geno follows right behind her.  
"Adelenn! Come back!" He calls, speedily walking through the door. This causes Mario to follow behind him. "Geno, wait!" He says, following Geno.

In a chain reaction, this causes Vivian , Lupo AND RAWR to follow him. "Mario!" They all say in unison, along with RAWR barking. This time, the door is destroyed due to all three of them entering the door at once. "H-hey! I don't think this is stealthy at all!" Jaraberutzu exclaims, following the other seven.

Lastly, there was Link, Patricia and Soulola. Soulola was looking at Patricia, and occasionally barking. "Sol." She murmurs, staring at Patricia. Patricia stares back. "…What? Did I do something to you?" Patricia growls, and curls up her fists in frustration. "Being stared down by a Pokémon is REALLY making me feel uncomfortable, Hun." She says to Link. He simply pats Soulola on the head, making her growl slowly and affectionately.

"Hmm… I wonder why. Soulola doesn't act like that with me. She even gives me bite-kisses!" Link smiles, completely absorbed in petting her. "Sooooool…" She says, nudging her nose against Link's chest. "We should get going though. We'll end up getting lost."

Link runs towards the door, holding Soulola. Patricia slowly follows behind them, checking every corner. "I don't like how silent this place is. Link seems too excited about it, though. Better make sure nobody gets hurt." She mutters to herself, pulling out her Mighty Shot.

When the three enter the door, there are two paths. One that leads to a sliding door with a star on it. The other leads to a hallway. Link and Patricia head down the small flight of stairs, like Vivian said. They come across a hallway filled with Marble tiles, and it leads to a wooden door. Link opens it and peers through.

"Did the guys go through here?" He wonders, unsheathing his Master Sword. He couldn't take any chances, so he goes in whilst armed. When he takes a peek, he can see the other seven standing right in front of the sewers. "There they are!" Link smiles, and starts running to them.

However, Adelenn stops him dead in his tracks by using her arms. "SHHHHHH. Something's moving around here." Adelenn whispers quietly, trying not to make a sound. Link immediately stops moving. "What is it?" He asks quietly.

The instant he asks, he hears a wall crashing down. Following that sound was the groan of a seemingly dead being. "Uuuuuuuuuuurgh…" It said, slamming into other wall. It breaks with incredible ease. The wall was closer than the last time.

For a moment, Link shivers. "Oh no. Not that thing. Anything but that thing. PLEASE tell me it isn't that." He says, tugging on his own hat. Everyone else was confused. "What's the matter, Link? You're getting pale." Jaraberutzu exclaims. "Aww, maybe you need a little bit of warmth. C'mere, you!" She continues to hug him, but it doesn't make him feel any better.

"It's Dead Hand, isn't it, Mario?" Link assumes.

Even Mario jumps at this. "Mama Mia…" He whispers sadly. He's seen Dead Hand before. One time, he was exploring with Link when they met Dead Hand. It was Link's fifth time seeing it, and nearly every time, it would suck the life out his partner. He was scared that anyone would get hurt from it again.

Dead Hand is a monster from Hyrule, created by Ganondorf. Dead Hand does not have arms on his actual body. They appear from the floor, and are called Infinite Hands for the reason being that they will regrow. The only way to kill Dead Hand is to attack the main body itself, but its endurance is so high that it is nearly impossible to kill it. Link has fought it five separate times, and has yet to kill it.

"Absol." Soulola barks nervously, trying to get Link's attention. "Yeah, I know, Soulola. That thing IS scary. I should make sure that everyone's safe from it." He rubs Soulola's head, and gives her to Patricia. "Hold her for a sec while I finish this." He explains.

"Wait, didn't you say you couldn't defeat it before?" Mario says. Link shakes his head. "That was a year ago. Three months before I became an S-Tier. Before I was able to stand a chance against anyone. Before Malon was… hurt…" He clenches his teeth and fists. He knows that in the past, he wasn't able to fight well. Everything changed in such a small amount of time.

He walks up to Dead Hand, and sees its frightening image once again.

It was very pale. Spots of blood covered its entire body, and it was oozing out of its teeth as well. Its hands were gone, and its torso was inside of the ground.

Soon enough, it notices Link. "Uuuuuuhuhuuuurg." It chuckles, seeing Link's face once more, laughing. Dead Hand was amused, because the last time it met Link, it killed one of the people from Kakariko Village, a small village in Hyrule. A small boy who fell into the well of the village, and never came back.

"What's so funny? You're about to fight me again. The man that's been pestering you for months. Ganondorf may have freed you from control, but that doesn't mean we're on equal terms with each other! I'm gonna make sure that you don't hurt anyone else." Link shouts proudly, pointing his Master Sword directly at Dead Hand.

"Hurrrg." It shouts.

From the wall, an enormous arm pops out and tries to grab Link from behind. It was seemingly going at a blinding pace. However, it was too slow and too loud for Link. Link slices it once and it rips to shreds, leaving nothing behind.

"…Hmph. I thought you were better than that." Link exclaims. Dead Hand was in fact shocked to see that Link defeated his hand in one slice. "Go get 'em, Link!" Patricia shouts from afar. "Lemme at 'im! Lemme AT 'im!" Adelenn squeals, trying to help Link, but is restrained by Jaraberutzu. "This is Link's fight. He told us to stay out of it!" She explains. Adelenn still attempts to break free without hurting Jaraberutzu.

Link pulls a Boomerang out of his pocket. Dead Hand shoots multiple arms at him at once. Link uses this opportunity to throw his Boomerang at all of them. They end up becoming stunned, allowing Link to jump on them and attack Dead Hand directly.

"See how you like this!" Link shouts, and shoots Din's Fire at it from his mouth. Dead Hand is quite flammable since he is made of rotting flesh. "HRUUU! UUUURG!" It screams, writhing in pain. It retreats into the sewer floors, but it was not done fighting Link.

"Strange, Mario… I don't see this thing in the Tattle Log at all. I wonder why?" Vivian asks. Mario takes a look at the Tattle Log. "Maybe because it's only for beings in the Mushroom Kingdom. It shouldn't have much about Hyrule in it. Other books might have information about Dead Hand, though." Mario explains. Vivian smiles and closes the book. "Cool. Let's hope that Link can finish this guy off." Vivian replies.

"Oh, he'll win, alright. He hasn't even begun to get serious. Look at how slow he's moving." Geno smirks.

However, he wasn't moving that slow to begin with. It was even hard for Adelenn to pick up his movements. Adelenn has enhanced animalistic senses, including sight and hearing. This means that her senses are far better than animals. Not being able to track Link very well indicates that he is moving at a terrifying speed. "Hey! Hit him in the head, Link!" Adelenn shouts.

Link looks behind him to see Adelenn guiding him through the battle. "Hey, that's not a bad idea! I'll try it!" He takes Adelenn's advice and goes straight for Dead Hand's head.

No good. Dead Hand blocks with several arms, making it impossible to attack its head. Link uses his attack to bounce back onto the floor safely. "Darn. I thought he'd do something like that. Guess it's time to use THIS baby." He smiles while pulling out his Longshot. He presses the button on it, and latches onto one of Dead Hand's Infinite Hands. As if he was on a rope, he swings across the sky, hooking himself on to several different platforms before looking for a place to strike Dead Hand.

'He's taking extra precaution. He won't let me get behind him, and he keeps trying to pressure me with his Infinite Hands. Burning him doesn't do much either… how can I defeat him without using half of my speed and power?' Link thinks to himself. He was not even at 30%, and was still putting up an equal fight with Dead Hand. However, he did not want to resort to brute strength and skill just yet. It would be too easy.

"It is kinda boring though. I want to see Link fight someone with all of his might." Lupo frowns, crossing her arms. Vivian couldn't agree more, and does the same thing. Mario chuckles. "If that happens, we could get caught in some dangerous blows. Mama Mia!" He says.

Link proceeds to trick Dead Hand into believing that Link would go into another direction. He throws his Boomerang to the side, not hitting Dead Hand at all. It follows the Boomerang, thinking that Link is moving in that direction. However, Link comes in close and slices him in the head.

Dead Hand shrieks tremendously. The sheer pain of being attacked by the Master Sword was unbearable, as its light pierces through Dead Hand like butter. He begins to retreat back into the floor, and spawns many more hands to grab Link. He jumps high, and bounces off of the walls to avoid contacting the Infinite Hands.

He then pulls a match from his tunic. With his left hand, he takes out a giant blue sphere. It had a fuse on the top, so it was most likely a bomb. Link lights the match, and hits the fuse with it. It begins to spark.

"I've seen this trick way too many times." He sighs, and throws the bomb right at the floor. It just lays there for a moment, but Link moves out of the way quickly, as fast as lightning.

"TAKE COVER! THIS ONE'S GONNA BE BIG!" Link commands the crew by waving his hand down, and they immediately listen. They weren't expecting Link to use a bomb so quickly. Mario knows how dangerous they are.

The bomb then explodes into many pieces, causing an explosion that shook the entire castle. The walls were crumbling, and the other heroes had to move into safety. They were safe at a dead end. More importantly, however…

Dead Hand resurfaces from the ground, screaming in pain once more. "HUURRUUUUG! REAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" It shouts into the air, trying to cover its eyes with its dismembered arms.

"Beautiful opening." Link smirks.

Instead of immediately going for Dead Hand, Link decides to hold the Master Sword by its blade. "Okay, I've never tried this before. Let's see how it goes." Link says to himself. He then holds his arm back.

He throws the Master Sword right into Dead Hand's skull.

"HRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The sheer impact of the sword impaling Dead Hand sent it through the sewer walls. Rocks were impaled into it, and it screamed even louder. There was absolutely no way that the Toad guards could not hear it.

Yet, they still ignore it. "Hey, Nif T. Did you hear that?" Says a Toad in the basement, inside of a small workshop. Nif T. shakes his head. "No… go finish up your homework." Nif. T responds. The other Toad goes back into his work.

Insanely enough, Dead Hand was still withering, trying to escape its humiliation and defeat. It tries to claw its way out, but can't escape.

Link takes this opportunity to slowly take the Master Sword out of Dead Hand's head, and brings the sword to its neck. This made it scream even more.

"HRRRRAAAAAA-"

"SHUT UP!" Link shouts with all of his might. In an instant, he released his mana to 50% power, shaking the very ground itself. It was easily causing a Magnitude 8 Earthquake within the area.

Dead Hand stops moaning. It doesn't even move. It just stares at Link blankly.

"Whoa… Link's scary, Geno. He told a monster to be quiet, and it did!" Adelenn silently claps her hands together. Geno wouldn't move. "W-what… That was… Link?" Geno turns to Mario. Mario smiles. "Yep. I told you he was strong. But that wasn't all of it…"

"That was Link at half-power."

Even Patricia turns her head around to face Mario. "Well, duuuuh! He's my man! Of course he's strong. He's SUPPOSED to be strong!" She grins, looking back at Link's painfully one-sided battle. "Sool." Soulola frowns. She was upset that Link was upset. She claws at him, trying to grab his attention. "Rawr." RAWR was also upset for the same reason.

Link raises his sword to deal the finishing blow. Even at half-power, he knew that it was enough to end Dead Hand.

Suddenly, Link catches a glimpse of Soulola clawing for him. He clenches his arms in frustration. Slowly, he sheathes the Master Sword, and walks up to her. He grabs her head, and rests his head upon hers. "Soulola, baby. I didn't wanna make you this upset from watching me fight." He frowns. "Sorry."

"Sol. Absol, Absol." She barks. Link looks up at her. "Oh, so you trust me? Are you sure that you're okay with this?" Link asks, and she nods back. "Sol!" She smiles, biting Link's nose gently. Link eventually smiles back. "Thanks, Soulola. You're the best." He says.

Dead Hand was watching Link. It was laughing. Laughing at the fact that Link had not finished it off just yet. Its laugh was piercing, and sounds like metal screeching. After a few seconds, it lays its head down. It suddenly turns into a black puff of smoke, and vanishes.

"Well, I guess it was already dead." Link says. He picks his head up to hear if anyone was coming downstairs. "Strange… nobody's coming down here."

"Wow, Link. Where did you learn to fight like that? I've never seen anyone fight so clever in my life." Vivian wonders. She was envious of Link. She wanted to be able to fight just like him. Link was hesitant to answer. "Uh… well, errr, not sure if I wanna tell you that. Trade Secret."

"Don't give me that 'trade secret' junk! Just tell me!" Patricia punches his shoulder. Link sighs deeply. "Well, I guess I have no other choice…" He finally agrees. Mario was quite interested to hear what he was going to say. "Hmm?" He says.

"I was… I was trained by Rosalina. There, I said it. Are you guys happy?" He looks to the floor next to him, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

Mario was stunned. Geno was stunned. Almost all of them were stunned. "ROSALINA!?" Mario asks with confusion. "Aunt Rosa taught you how to fight like a man!? But she's a girl! I thought girls learn to fight and win like girls!" Adelenn wonders.

Link laughs. "Hehe, it doesn't work like that, Adelenn." He begins. "However, training with her was… awkward. At first, I had to do a lot of helping around her observatory, like feeding the Lumas while fending off Rosalina herself. She'd attack me whenever she felt like it, even during sleep! She was also always on top of me, so I had to get her off of me, even though she was so heavy! She also gave me this weird milk. She said it wasn't from cows. I wonder what it was from…"

"Space Cows!? Space Cows EXIST! I KNEW IT! Aunt Rosa was right about the Space Cows!" Adelenn suggests. Patricia nods. "Yep. Definitely some Space Cows." She agrees. "Space Cows have tasty milk." Geno adds. "Whoa. Space Cows. Space Beef… Mmmmm…" Lupo daydreams about eating Space Steak. Link smiles. "It tasted good for something that wasn't cow's milk. It tasted like home…"

"However, I should tell you guys about how it even started. It's kind of a long story."

"A year ago, while I was still a D-Rank in Super Smash Brothers, I was starting to begin feeling desperate for the power to protect my loved ones. After what happened to Malon, I was looking for someone in the guild hall that could make me better. However, I wasn't warming up to everybody well at first. Heh, not even Meta Knight would talk to me." He begins. "It was there that I was about to give up. Master Hand was busy, and said that he was sorry that he couldn't teach me at the moment. I had no friends besides Mario, but you were busy fighting Antasma."

"As usual, I went to get milk to drink my problems away. Of course it wasn't Chateau Romani; I was too young for that. It was there that I met a new person there. You guessed it; it was Rosalina, who was also drinking milk. She seemed powerful, so I went to ask her. When I did, she seemed startled at my appearance. I was dirty, battered up, and lacked enough training, even though I hadn't lost a fight yet."

Everybody began to sit down to continue listening to Link's story, even Link himself.

"She look me in the eyes a lot. She always smiles at me, and looks like she has something to confess to me. She's even like that now. Her training was also very positive. Instead of trying to break me, her training consisted of things that would reinforce my spirit, like meditating and basic, yet effective exercise. Definitely Yoga."

"It got worse a few days later." He laughs. "She then stopped being soft on me, and started having battles with me DURING exercise. She was immensely powerful. Even looking at me could've caused me to pass out. I quickly overcame it, and I was able to fight her with all of my might. As of then, she's still at least six times as strong as I was, but my technique and power have increased over time. I should be half as strong as she is by now."

Everybody was in confusion. Link and Rosalina haven't shown much interaction with each other up until now. "But… whoa. I can't even begin to think of what kind of training it must have been to make you from a D-Tier to an S-Tier in three months. That shouldn't even be possible." Lupo says. Link chuckles and scratches his head. "Hehe, Master Hand promoted me as soon as I took the championship three times in a row. He acknowledged my skill… and here I am today. Still alive and breathing."

"Also, whenever I was asleep, I'd always feel something soft and smooth run across my forehead. I thought it was someone's lips, but Rosalina said it was the Lumas that would play around while I was asleep, since their heads are super soft as well." He adds. Mario lowers his eyes. "Oh, really?" He asks. Link nods his head.

Soon enough, somebody catches on to the racket that was made. "Hey! Who's down there? Is it one of you stupid bunnies again!? Get out of there!" Shouts a Toad Bodyguard. His footsteps were loud, echoing as he walks down the basement steps.

Everybody jumps up in a panic. "Mama Mia! We gotta get out of here, guys! Let's-a go!" He immediately says, grabbing the closest person to him, which was Vivian. With her, he follows the trail towards a small door with a star symbol on it. The other heroes follow shortly behind, and peer through the door.

"Is anyone in there?" Jaraberutzu asks. Mario shakes his head. "Nope. Coast is clear as day." He says. "Not a Toad in sight. Let's get in here before we get spotted." Lupo says. They all agree to enter one by one, making sure nobody was spying on them.

The room was a perfect cube. Two stairways led to a circular hole, filled with a liquid. Surprisingly, it shines like metal. No other liquids were this color. It was definitely of magical influence.

The heroes gather around this hole, and investigate it. "What's this, Mario? I've never seen this before." Geno asks. "Interesting… It looks as if this is a gateway or a… portal of some sort."

"No sweat. It is a portal. It's a portal to the cave right behind the waterfall outside of the castle. It's the only way to get inside through the castle." Mario explains. "It's also one of the more discreet ways to enter besides jumping right into the waterfall. I do it all the time when I want to go to the Hazy Maze Cave."

Link was petting Soulola, who was telling him what they should do. "So Sol, Absol. Absol Ab, Sol-Ab." Soulola begins. "Sol Sool. Absol?"

"I get it. I won't blow up the place. Jeez." Link agrees to Soulola, who smiles and gives him a bite-kiss on the nose. "Rawrrrr. Raw Rawr." RAWR says, agreeing with Soulola. Link rolls his eyes. "Yeah, RAWR. I know. She JUST told me that. Thank you very much for clarifying that." He replies.

"It's kinda weird that nobody's here… Wouldn't a place like this be under heavy guard or something?" Patricia wonders, looking back at the door. "Maybe it was Wario who was supposed to guard this place. He seems like the only powerful guy here." Geno adds.

"Whatever the matter is, we should go now. We don't want those Toads to catch us." Mario finishes up, and throws himself into the metallic liquid. "Let's-a go, paisanos!" He shouts as he disappears into the fluid.

"Hey, Mario! Wait for us!" Vivian and Lupo shout, jumping right after him (Vivian has no legs, so she cannot jump). "Oh, those guys! They jumped in, Geno! Let's go!" Adelenn takes Geno's arm and immediately throws him into the fluid. "ADELEEEEEEENN!" He growls as he disappears into the fluid as well. "Yipee!" Adelenn shouts as she slowly glides into the fluid.

Jaraberutzu, while Patricia wasn't looking, swipes a kiss from Link and disappears into the fluid as well. "Oh, well… that was unexpected." He says. Patricia looks at Link with an eyebrow raised. "What was?" She asks. "Oh, nothing. Jaraberutzu acts weird sometimes. Let's take the Pokémon through." He replies, wiping red lipstick off of his mouth.

RAWR decides to jump in, and Link picks up Soulola. He nuzzles his nose into Soulola's side, and makes her giggle. "We're gonna go in there, get the Crystal Sun, and then I'll get you a nice piece of steak, okay? We can even share it!" Link smiles. Soulola likes the idea, and barks happily. "Absol, Absol!" She says.

Soon enough, Patricia and Link (along with Soulola) jump into the metallic fluid. "Thanks, Rosalina. You helped me get this far." Link smiles, as he submerges into the Hazy Maze Cave with Patricia.

IN THE OBSERVATORY…

"Ah…ACHOO!" Sneezes poor Rosalina. In the past few minutes, she's been sneezing wildly. "Oh… oh my. Mucus is interesting. Why did I share such a trait with other beings of life? It is ruining this couch. Polari! Please hand me the napkins in the kitchen! My nose is about to rupture from mucus!" Immediately, Polari flies to the Kitchen and retrieves the napkins. Rosalina takes one and wipes the mucus off of her hands and nose. "Thank you, my dear." She smiles, blowing her nose.

'Someone was talking about me… not many know of my existence…' Rosalina thinks. 'I can only guess that it is Mario, Link, Adelenn, Geno and their friends. Their wonderful, beautiful friends. They will be safe… I know it. But I fear for Adelenn and Link especially…'

'As of now, anything that brings Adelenn into a severe emotion such as anger or sorrow… Link will completely lose it… and even worse is… if that is not what happens…'

'The invoking of Demon Queen will begin.'

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR END.


	26. 25: Deadly Desires

Chapter Twenty-Five: Deadly Desires

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 4

It was moist. Cloudy, even. A place like this was not meant to have clouds, but here they are. Fire spews out of the large holes in the ground. Bugs crawl all over the floors, walls, and ceiling. It was cold. Colder than any other place in the castle. It is if it was a wasteland for the dead itself.

From there, there was a platform made of tough, durable stone. Big enough for ten individuals to topple over each other in a pyramid.

…That's what happened. I'm not kidding here. The heroes, from seemingly nowhere, drop from above, and topple over each other in an odd, but flashy way.

Unfortunately, poor Mario was at the bottom of the heap, being flattened by everyone else in the group. "Oof!" He lets out, air being squeezed out his lungs with each hero that drops on him. Fortunately enough, Soulola was light, and didn't hurt him when she landed on his head. "Sol Sol!" She thanks Mario, who nods back.

Link was on the top of the pile of heroes, and backflips off of them first. "OY! It looks like we're here, Mario! Smells musty and old as usual." Link shouts from above. Link has been to the Hazy Maze Cave before. One time, he went with Luigi, and they explored the depths of the cave to find a lost treasure. Link was quite the expert in treasure hunting.

"Is it now?" Jaraberutzu asks with flirty eyes. "Oh, Link. You're so smart!" She winks, but Link gives her a confused look. "Uh… thanks. All I needed to do was look around the place a bit. It's definitely the Hazy Maze Cave, though. That maze map on that wall… unmistakable." He concludes.

There was a map of the Hazy Maze. It would serve no purpose to them at this point, since they are looking for the Crystal Sun, and it could be anywhere. 'This is gonna be troublesome.' Geno thinks to himself. He wonders how he will find the Crystal Sun in such an immense, dark cave. 'We don't seem to have a way to pinpoint its location… we better find one… what if we used a different Crystal Sun to help us look for it?' He hypothesizes, looking back at Mario.

"Hey, Mario. Can I take a look at the Green Crystal Sun? The one we haven't used." Geno smirks. Mario wonders what he's up to. "Uh… sure, I guess. Here ya go." Mario replies without hesitation, taking out the Green Crystal Sun, and handing it to Geno. "Vivian, I'll also need the Magical Map." He says.

"Alright." Vivian says, wondering what Geno wants to do. She takes out the Tattle Log, and takes out the Magical Map. She dusts it off before giving it to him. "What'cha doing, Geno? You gonna do some magic thingy and help us find the Crystal Sun?" Adelenn asks politely and quickly.

"In a way. I'm trying to see if using this Crystal Sun and the Magical Map will create a pulse similar to what it does in the Sky Sanctum. I need a little help, though." He sighs. "Lupo. I'm going to have you attack the Crystal Sun. It needs an explosive power to get it started, but I can't have Link use flames; he'll destroy it."

"Oh, well, okay then." Link frowns, crossing his arms. Patricia looks at him and does the same thing. Adelenn looks at Patricia and also does the same thing.

"Use that 'Boom' thing when I tell you to. It seems useful." He finishes. Lupo smiles. "It's called the Blooming Boom, if that's what you wanted to know, lightweight." She states, and readies her hand. "Alright, just tell me when to do it and we'll be set, right?"

Geno nods. First, he takes the Crystal Sun, and covers it with the Magical Map. He then takes a moment to focus. "Geno Boost." He says, waving his left hand in a motion that increases the magical flow within the map. The map begins to pulse.

"THERE. Do it now!" Geno shouts. Lupo begins to slam her hand into the Crystal Sun. Once it makes contact, Lupo shouts her special word.

"BOOM!"

Instead of an explosion happening, the Crystal Sun begins to pulse as well. This time, it produces a green line of energy whenever it pulses, giving the light a more mysterious appearance. For a moment, it continues to do this without any changes to the surrounding environment.

But in a matter of seconds, there was feedback. Feedback in the form of a purple pulse of light. It pulses at the same beat as both the Magical Map and the Crystal Sun, indicating that this is the Crystal Sun they're looking for. "Gotcha." Geno says with a grin.

"Rawr! Rawrawr!" RAWR claps with his stubby hands. "Sol!" Soulola barks happily in response. They were both happy that Geno succeeded in his attempt to get a pulse. "I thought that this would be the one to work. We never tapped into its powers, so it would've been the one to use as a radar of some sort. If we use it as a radar, we'll find that other Crystal Sun." Geno explains.

"So… it looks like we're at a fork, though. The pulse seems to be going downward as well. There's only one place I can think of that would be this far under the ground." Mario states. "The spring."

Mario looks to the left of the forked path. "That should take us to the spring quicker. But… it's a little more dangerous." He mutters. There was a wooden door on the end of the small path to the left, but it requires them to jump a very long distance. The Pokémon would have trouble getting through the spiked chasm.

"Vivian, grab the Pokemon again, and take them to the other side of the chasm. Link, grab Adelenn. I'm afraid she'll slip or something." Mario commands, and everything he asked was done. Vivian takes Soulola and RAWR, and hurls them to the other side of the pit. Link puts Adelenn around his shoulder. "Come on, Adelenn. We can't have you slipping and falling." He smiles, taking out his Longshot to swing across the pit, even though he could easily jump it.

"Yaaay! Link is taking me for a ride, Geno! I'm flying!" She shouts happily, throwing her arms up and extending her wing, pretending to fly gracefully through the air. "That's hardly a ride, but good! Be careful though. You don't wanna hurt Link by accident." Geno shouts back as he jumps over the chasm. Jaraberutzu merely floats across, and Lupo performs one of the famous long jumps with Mario.

Geno tries to jump across perfectly, but slams his face across the cave's wall, and slumps downward onto the floor. "Ow…" He mumbles. He gets up before anyone could notice, but Soulola notices anyway. "So-ho-ho-hol!" Soulola laughs at poor Geno, who growls at her, and makes her retreat back into Link's messenger bag.

Link points at the door while looking at Mario. "Is this the right door, Mario?" He asks. Mario nods. "Yeah, but be careful. There's a giant ho-"

Suddenly, Link opens the door to see what was on the other side. He ends up falling into a bottomless pit.

"LINK!" Patricia screams, dashing towards the pit as fast as she could. She looks down to see where Link was falling. She couldn't see him at all. "LIIIIINK! YOU BETTER NOT BE DEAD, YOU JERK!" She starts shouting at the bottomless pit.

Even more sudden was the fact that Link's Longshot could be heard. Mario and Geno were able to hear it. "Huh?" They wonder. Adelenn was also able to hear it. "What's that sound? It sounds like a chain making a really weird stringy sound." She states. Patricia looks down at the bottomless pit to see Link's Longshot. "So he IS alive!" She growls.

The Longshot ends up sticking to her chest.

Patricia gulps. She puts on a face of pure shock and terror. "…Did I… did I get… pierced by… the Longshot… here?" She slowly mutters, her eyes wide open of pure confusion, waving her hand over the area in which she was stabbed by the harmless Longshot.

She feels the pull of the chain, realizing that Link was coming back up. "Whew. I almost broke my arm falling down here. I better be careful next ti-"

He realizes that he stuck his chain into Patricia's chest region shortly after ascending, and his eyes show true terror as well. "…Oops." He nervously chuckles, scratching his head.

He then lands back on the platform he was just on, receiving a fierce slap from Patricia. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" She growls, grabbing Link by the collar. "No, what makes you think that?" He replies, not angry at all by being accused. "You used the Longshot on my CHEST, you dummy. No way could you've done that by mistake!" She hits him on the head several times with her hand.

"Sorry, Ms. Grumpy Wagon. C'mere! You probably need a hug, babe." He smiles, proceeding to warmly hug Patricia, who was struggling to escape it, but then it transformed from a hug into a carry, and Link jumps across the pit with ease.

Mario and the others were unaware that Link was able to jump so well. "Mama Mia. That was actually good jumping." He smiles, and the rest of the heroes follow Link by gracefully jumping towards the other side of the massive hole.

Next, giant balls of stone were hurdling towards the heroes. Lupo and Mario grin, and both destroy the rocks with their bare hands. "Hmph." They both grunt, clearing their hands of cement, and clearing the way of more boulders.

"When did we get strong enough to fight nature itself, Jaraberutzu?" Vivian wonders. Jaraberutzu shrugs. "Dunno. It just came to us, I guess. I bet all of that fighting really helps us out in the long run." She says. "I mean, look at Adelenn. She's monstrously strong, but she's so thin and curvaceous. Makes me jealous a little!"

"What does 'curvaceous' mean? It sounds like a type of soup!" Adelenn wonders, easily hearing what Jaraberutzu says from a hundred feet away. "Whoa, what kind of hearing do you have!? You heard me all the way from here!? And with this kind of racket!?" She shouts over the voice of Mario and Lupo breaking boulders continuously. Adelenn giggles. "Heehee, you're so silly, Jara! I bet you can hear me just fine!"

Soon, the heroes were able to get underneath the terrible rockslide. It took a while, but everyone was able to get through with minimal problems.

There was a metal door. This time, Link decides to open it before going inside. He throws it open and checks to see if there was a trap behind it. Luckily, there was only a small room, with a large metal platform in the middle of it all.

"Hey, it's the elevator." Link smiles. "Luigi showed me this place before, but the way I got here was a little bit different. This is where the spring should be, right?" He wonders. Geno nods his head. "Yes. Hazy Maze Cave's spring should be down here. If we can get there, we might be able to get the Crystal Sun. It won't be easy, though. There might even be a Death down there." He replies.

"Don't worry about it! I'll beat this Death like he or she was a piece of floppy disk!" Adelenn squeals loudly, and everyone looks at her with a confused look. "…What?" Patricia says. "You know… Floppy disks can't do anything 'cuz they're floppy from being punched too much!"

"…Who teaches you this stu-"

"AUNT ROSA!" She giggles, and jumps onto the elevator. Her wing extends and folds in a flashy manner. "Let's go before we lose it!"

Everybody had no choice but to listen to Adelenn, and they all stood on the elevator. RAWR presses the button, and the platform descends. Deeper and deeper, it appears as though it becomes darker. However, it shortly became bright again.

"This is…" Patricia looks downward, and sees that there were windows in the elevator. When she peers through, she can see a wonderfully clean spring, with a slope going down into it. There were stairs that lead to the middle of the cave, but whatever was there was too small to see. She was more interested in the water, though.

"Guys, look. This place is huge!" Patricia shouts, calling the others to her side. The other heroes take a peek outside the window, and get a good view of the spring. "Wooow, it's so beautiful." Vivian says in awe. She wanted to gaze at it some more, but she knows that she has a job to do, as with the rest of the heroes.

They all get off of the elevator, and look around. They had no other choice but to go towards the spring. Adelenn walks first, and heads towards the spring.

"So, guys. If this Death is really mean and evil, I'm gonna say something like, 'OH, YOU THINK YOU'RE TOUGH!? I'M THE SECOND DEATH OF FEAR! I AM SCARY AND STUFF! RAAAAWR!' It'll work, I bet you!"

"SILENCE." Commands a voice, booming through the air.

Adelenn stops short. Her eye's pupil shrinks due to the shock of the voice she hears. With her long, flowing hair, she turns around to find the voice.

There was a man with white hair, and a t-shirt with a skull. He wore baggy pants, and a massive broadsword was at his side, also with an intimidating skull. He himself was as tall as Adelenn, but also very lean and strong. He sat on a throne, awaiting the heroes to come to him.

"Ah, so it looks as though the wonderful Adelenn and her puppets return. You really led them all the way here to get slaughtered by me? How wonderful." He smiles evilly.

"…Tarin…" Adelenn whispers angrily. Her face immediately becomes serious. She wasn't playing around anymore.

The other heroes besides Jaraberutzu and Soulola have met Tarin before. Just before he left for Don Tae to fight them. He looked even stronger than before.

"Puppets? What do you mean by puppets, Tarin?" Adelenn points at him, and he laughs hysterically. "HAHA! You don't remember? Fuego, that old coot! He told you to bring them to me so that I may kill them! And now, you've given me the chance to! I thank you very much, my wife." He says, laughing to himself.

Mario was confused. "Adelenn, you were supposed to trick us into getting killed by this guy?" Mario asks. He wasn't too sure about what's going on. "Yeah, when it was just you, Vivian, Geno and Lupo. But you guys aren't my enemy anymore, so that was long gone. I would never want to kill you guys!" She says. Geno looks at her in the eyes.

"She's telling us the truth. She can't lie to us; we're her friends. She has no reason to lie to us." Geno smiles, relieved that it really wasn't a trap at all. "Whoa, that's crazy. A trap to kill Mario? That's like, impossible! Mario can get out of pretty much any sticky problem when he's got friends around!" Link says. He knows that Mario was very skilled in the art of escaping tight situations.

"So… why did you come here if you aborted your mission? Did you want to beg for forgiveness? Did you want to be burned once more? Did you want me to make you suffer like usual for disobeying me? I'll have you know that you were weak from the beginning. Weakness is something we cannot have. Not in the Duce Family Tree." He gets up.

"I am the sixth Death of Desire, and I represent so proudly. My name is Tarin Duce, the second noble Demon Family of the current seven. Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra is now my wife, and there is nothing that any of you fools can do to stop me." He snickers maliciously.

Link was going to unsheathe the Master Sword, but Link and Geno stop him from going any further. "Don't. You'll destroy this place along with him if you fight Tarin. Let someone else handle this." Mario commands. Link was hesitant, but listens to Mario anyway.

"So, since you will all die anyway, I shall tell you why Adelenn is mine to deal with as I please. She is a special girl, and I loved her the moment I set eyes on her. I was greatly awaiting the chance that I would marry her. We almost did, but then that fool Fuego had to die, throwing off everything. I was so enraged. Shortly following that, Adelenn seemingly escaped to another planet using a Launch Star, and it broke as soon as she used it. My world was falling apart."

"I couldn't have that. Adelenn was and still is mine. I want her. I want her to breed a new line of Demons that will tear this little world apart. Nothing else should exist but the Demons, and I will make hundreds of millions of them if I have to." He explains.

"Do you know the curse that was placed upon us by the Goddess of the Stars? Her name is Rosalina. She placed a curse on Demons, forbidding them from reproducing for every one hundred years. We cannot have children for such a long time. It was outrageous. The other Void Demons were angry, and confused. 'What did we ever do to deserve this', we would ask. It was not fair…"

"…A curse… placed on the Demons… unable to reproduce for 100 years… It makes some sort of sense as to why Demons are not very common yet." Vivian exclaims. "This curse is the reason why they are not as high in numbers."

"BUT! There is one exception… there is one who is not influenced by this curse, and that person can continue to make Demon Children at will; no matter who it is, and no matter when. That one person…

"…Is myself."

Everyone holds their breath. They couldn't believe his words, but they also knew he was not lying. "Hehehehe… Surprised? I would be, if I were in your disgusting, inferior shoes. A man of my class shouldn't have to bother you. But I will continue. From the start, I was not under the influence of the curse. I was a free bird, free to breed with whoever I please. And this is where lovely Adelenn comes in. She's the perfect mother for children. She will be the commander of every single one of them!" Tarin laughs insanely, yet everyone stays quiet.

"Step aside, pigs. All I want is Adelenn, and I cannot have your filthy hands all over her." He smiles, and walks over to Adelenn.

"You're the pig." Adelenn growls.

Tarin stops moving. He picks up his ear a notch. He wasn't quite sure what Adelenn said to him. "Hmm? Did I hear something from your mouth? Did it go by something like-"

"YOU ARE THE PIG! A DISGUSTING, EVIL, DEMANDING PIG!" Adelenn screams at him, trying to supress her mana from him. Her eye begins to ooze it out, however. Tarin's left eye's pupil shrinks due to supreme anger. He balls up his hand.

"Might I remind you WHO you are TALKING TO!?" He yells, enraged by Adelenn's words. "You are talking to the man who loves you to DEATH! I will silence that FILTHY mouth of yours!" He extends his blood-red wings, and uses them to advance faster and faster towards her.

When he reaches her, he brings up his hand. "You are a disgrace. You dirty, filthy woman. You grew to be a shameless, gutless, powerless fool. And now, I shall silence that mouth of yours." He grumbles. He then swings his hand at Adelenn.

Geno catches his hand with his own.

"…I'm sorry? Did you call Adelenn filthy?" He whispers. He squeezes Tarin's hand, and Tarin's hand begins to hurt. He still keeps his cool. "Why, yes, pig. Why does it matter to you?"

"BECAUSE IF LINK IS NOT GOING TO MURDER YOU, IT WILL BE ME!" He looks up at Tarin with a deadly gaze. Geno then brings up his own hand.

He punches Tarin right in the gut, sending him to the cave walls. The wall caves in to suit Tarin's shape, as they were very durable. Tarin gets out of the wall quickly, and flies to his broadsword. "Is that the best you have? I hardly felt a thing." He dusts the debris off his shoulders.

"Hardly." Geno smirks.

Adelenn was upset. Geno was fighting Tarin by himself, and she knows how strong Tarin is. "Don't hurt yourself, Geno… we're counting on you to stay alive." She whispers to herself.

"Your cockiness is what will kill you tonight." Tarin chuckles.

"LESS TALKING, MORE FIGHTING, SCUMBAG!" Geno roars. Tarin proceeds to swing at Geno with the massive broadsword, but Geno dodges almost all of them. One makes contact, but Geno blocks it by grabbing it and throwing the sword with Tarin.

Tarin stabilizes with his wings, and flies towards Geno once more. This time, he starts to cut upward, and slams the sword down each time, not giving Geno any kind of opening to strike. From his hand, Geno shoots a metal cartridge at Tarin, and it shoots like a bullet, hitting Tarin in the head.

"GOTCHA!" Geno smiles.

Tarin merely removes the metal cartridge from his head, and without letting Geno know, he grabs him and slices Geno with the sword, causing him to slam into the wall.

"HEHEHEHE! AHAHAHAHA!" He laughs into the air. "Did you really think a bullet would stop me!? Do you think that it would stop Adelenn? Or the pink-haired Demon Lord?! NO! We are immune to technology such as that. Red Virus immunity is what gives us such power. Now you will see what it means to writhe in pain."

Tarin continues to grapple and attack Geno with the broadsword, each time making Geno cough harshly. "GENO!" Link growls, attempting to pull out the Master Sword once more. "Link, stop! We can't have you on a rampage! We told you this!" Jaraberutzu mutters, holding Link in place as best as she could. "But Geno's getting hurt out there! We gotta do SOMETHING!"

"It's okay! I'm… I'm gonna do this!" Geno shouts, spitting on Tarin's shirt. "Ha! Who's filthy now?" He adds just before being thrown into the wall again.

'Perfect. He's falling right for my trap.' Geno snickers. It may not seem like it, but Geno secretly enchanted himself with Geno Boost, enhancing his Defense extraordinarily. He takes a look at Adelenn while pretending to be depressed and hurt.

Just as he thought, Adelenn was beginning to be nervous. "Oh no! Geno! Geno! You're hurt! Don't die!" She cries softly, tearing up a little bit.

'Yes! Just as I thought!' He thinks to himself. Adelenn was already feeling a harsh emotion, and Geno wanted to build it up even more.

"What's he doing? There's no way Geno could lose to him." Mario wonders. Patricia then begins to scan Geno with the Helmet Siren. "You're right. His mana is still going strong. He hasn't weakened at all. But act natural, and see what he does." Patricia says.

Indeed, Geno was managing quite well, but his effort was not over. Tarin was continuing to beat and abuse Geno with punches, kicks, and even strangling. Geno was able to get out of these quite well, and letting some of them hit.

"No! Tarin, stop it! You're hurting my friend!" Adelenn tries to plead with him. All he does is laugh maniacally. "HAHAHAHA! You brought this upon yourself, my love! Now you will watch your friend die in front of me, like a fool." Tarin replies.

Geno looks beat up, and looks at Adelenn. "Look… Adelenn…" He coughs heavily, pretending to be dying. "I'm… okay. Don't worry about me. I'll protect you… from this poser."

"YOU FOOL!" Tarin shouts, pushing Geno to the floor. "You cannot defeat someone of a higher rank! It's as silly as a bug trying to defeat a Venus Fly Trap! It's futile! But… your efforts won't go in vain." He holds the sword against Geno's neck.

"No. No. No! NO! DON'T! PLEASE, DON'T! GENO'S MY FRIEND! DON'T KILL HIM!" Adelenn gets on her knees and starts begging for Geno's mercy.

Tarin scoffs. "Too late." He says, and raises his hand. He was about to administer the final blow to Geno. 'Come on, Adelenn. Come on, come on, come on, come on! I told Rosalina that I'd be careful about this!' He thinks to himself, hoping that his façade would help him.

"Goodbye, enemy of mine. It was fun while it lasted." Tarin chuckles. "I won't even let you say any last words. Your life was meaningless anyway." He finishes, and lowers his sword to execute.

"DON'T YOU EVEN DARE HURT MY GENOOOOOOO!"

Suddenly, a sound of gas from Adelenn's Voided Eye appears. A black mist quickly escapes the Voided Eye. It engulfs the entire cave, and muffles all fighting and sound. "WHOA!" All of the heroes shout. They were confused. All of their senses were being blocked. They couldn't see, feel, or hear anything…

…It was as if nothing was there for a moment, or to even begin with…

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE END.


	27. 26: Demon Queen Adelenn

Chapter Twenty-Six: Demon Queen Adelenn

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 4

The clouds of black smoke, after a minute or so, start to disappear around the heroes, but not around Adelenn. It swirls around her in a clockwise pattern, and cloaks her in such a way. The sheer blast of the mist forces Tarin to stop fighting against Geno, and to look at Adelenn, but couldn't see her.

"What in the world…?" Tarin says to himself, taking up his broadsword and releasing Geno. He thought that Adelenn was doing something, and paid his attention towards her. Geno sighs. "Yes… I think it's done." Geno smiles happily, looking back at the other heroes, still pretending to be hurt.

Mario and the others were still looking at the black mist, getting ready to strike whatever it might form into.

Suddenly, the mist unveils at Adelenn's feet. Her feet seemed normal, and untouched. So did her legs. But when the mist started to unravel itself, more was shown.

Adelenn's hair, even though it touches the floor still, is now completely red at the ends of it. They mark the fact that her hair is like fire, and serves the purpose of heating things. Her hair was now resembling of the mighty fires of the universe itself.

Towards her waist was her only black wing. It had grew in size and wingspan, allowing it to become more useful than before. It was shinier than before, giving it a glossy finish.

Even more surprising is the fact that Adelenn now has two large fangs on her mouth. Each were as long as her thumbs. They now take over the role of her canine teeth, and hang out of her mouth, as though they were extensions. They were sharp, white, and deadly.

"…What did I say to you about hurting Geno?" Adelenn mutters, her voice creating an echo throughout itself and the entire spring. The mist finally unveils itself, and Adelenn could be completely shown. Some parts of her had changed completely, and it shocked the heroes.

"Whoa." Patricia and Lupo say.

"Mama Mia." Mario wonders.

"RAWR!" Says RAWR. "Sol!" Says Soulola. The rest were too busy focusing on the mana that was surrounding her. It was black, and flickers like fire. It wouldn't leave her presence, but the water that was around her evaporates immediately, and quickly. Her ghosts were also changing, as they were now skulls with angry faces on them.

Resting above Adelenn's head was a crown. A crown that was completely black, and crackles like fire at the spikes of the crown. It was a crown made of dark energy. The crown was small, but noticeable enough. "You are not to hurt anyone else, Tarin Duce. Step back now." She quietly commands Tarin, who was a few hundred feet away from her.

"Ha! As if I'd listen to a weakling such as yourse-"

He was stopped when Adelenn decides to grab him by the neck with one hand. Within a flash, Adelenn was already in close quarters with Tarin. She continues to squeeze Tarin's neck, forcing him to gasp for air. "Should I show you how weak I am now?" She brings him closer to her mouth, and whispers into his ear.

She then decides to release a small amount of her mana.

The ground was tearing apart. The floor rumbles so intensely, that some stalactites fall from the top of the spring. It was so nostalgic that Link had no choice but to smile. "So… it looks like Adelenn is done playing around! I've never seen this power from her!" He states, knowing that this power of Adelenn's was different; it was not the same anymore. This power was easily Magnitude 8 Mana distribution.

Adelenn was hardly trying to display power, and yet she shook the very ground. Tarin was now struggling to get out of her reach. "GEH! I cannot breathe! Let go of me this INSTANT, WOMAN!" He commands. Adelenn decides to not say anything. She was strangling him to death, and that was all that she needed to do to shut him up.

"From the beginning, I was stronger than you… you idiot." Adelenn says. "I never decided to fully explain it, as it would bring me to fight for someone else's entertainment rather than live a life that is as close to normal as possible. That's not what I wanted. And most certainly, I do not want you in my life. You're the cause of all this."

"I will not accept those who would try to hurt friends and family. Aunt Rosa, Mario, Geno, Link, and the rest of us… we're family, now. They love me, and I love them back." She looks back, smiling at her friends.

"WOOHOO! Go get 'em, girl!" Jaraberutzu waves at her, giving her a massive thumbs-up. The others were still watching, but they smile as she smiles at them. Geno also gets up, and walks towards Mario and Link. "Ugh… my head." Geno groans. "I think I let him hit me too many times during Geno Boost. My head is pounding like crazy."

"Geno, what's going on? When did Adelenn get such a huge amount of power? There's so much mana of hers in the air that it's scary!" Vivian wonders, shaking nervously. Geno laughs with her. "Heh. I guess you haven't figured it out, yet." He states. "Look at how much Adelenn has changed from that explosion of dark energy. Her hair, her teeth, her ghosts… and the crown on her head. That can't be pure coincidence, can it?"

Vivian gulps heavily. She had just come to realize what the true meaning behind this power is. "No… no way! It was her? It was her the ENTIRE time!?" She shouts. "I can't believe this! How come you didn't tell us this from the start!?"

"I never knew it from the start. Only now did I realize how stunted her growth was. Not many Demons can develop their wings so quickly. Hardly ANY Demons are this naturally strong and skilled. Only a mighty few can do this. Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra is one of them…" Geno abruptly pauses.

"…Adelenn is the new Demon Queen."

Adelenn proceeds to throw Tarin into the cave wall. She proceeds to then punch him through it by flying right at him. She was able to send him through this wall twice, before kicking him back to the center platform with incredible power.

"What!? Adelenn's flying with just ONE wing! Cool!" Patricia shouts, confused by how it was possible. "The Demon Queen can do that." Jaraberutzu smirks. "I mean, what's the point of having a wing if you can't use it to fly?" Link was also confused at this. "It's interesting to see that a being with just a single wing can fly better than a bird." He wonders.

Adelenn then begins to shout some incantations. "Ghost Tactic 1. Constriction." She whispers, waving her two hands in a magical motion. Two ghosts from her dress come off, and begin to hold down Tarin. His arms were bound, making him hang suspended in the air. As hard as he tried to move, it was not going to happen.

She then uses another incantation. This time, her hand motions are more exaggerated, and required a bit more time. "Ghost Tactic 40."

"GHOST TACTIC 40?!" Geno yells. "Everyone, duck for cover!" Everyone except Adelenn and Tarin do so immediately. "Wait, what's Ghost Tactic 40 that it's so dangerous!?" Link asks, shouting from a distance. Geno, while ducking, looks at Link. "It's just like Ghost Tactic 4, but WAY more dangerous! If we're not careful, we could get seriously hurt."

"BIG BANG." Adelenn finishes the spell.

A singular Bomb Boo floats off of her dress. It was massive; even bigger than King Boo himself. It was getting slowly closer and closer to Tarin. "Ugh! I can't let that get to me!" Tarin says to himself. He breaks the bind between him and the ghosts, and grabs his sword to attack the Bomb Boo. The Bomb Boo retreats back into Adelenn's dress.

"HAAAAAHAHAHAHA! What was that!? Was that supposed to just scare me!? Well, too bad! I knew from the beginning that these binds were fragi-"

"That's because I made them fragile on purpose. Attack me if you still hang on to your useless pride." Adelenn growls. Her left eye was glowing red with fire. She was ready to combat whatever Tarin set aside for her.

"I will show you what TRUE strength is! You will regret disobeying me, my dear!" He yells aloud, and grabs his sword with both hands. He was about to use Kendo on Adelenn. He infuses his sword with dark mana that he absorbed from other souls.

"Not many people that I've met ever lived through this attack, as it steals practically all of their energy. SEE IF YOU CAN DODGE THIS!" He swings his sword downward, and hits Adelenn directly in the head, sending wind to both directions of the blade. The power of the wind was amazing, and had Soulola shivering due to the coldness of it.

"…You shouldn't have done that." Adelenn smirks.

The attack did not injure Adelenn. Much less, it did not move Adelenn at all. "…That was supposed to get rid of my mana? I didn't feel anything." She says. Tarin gasps suddenly. "No… Impossible! That attack should have killed you! With all that mana that you possess, there would be no way to live after that! How did you do that, my love!?" He shouts at her.

She takes her left hand and places it under Tarin's blade. She lifts her index finger, and rises it upward. The sword moves out of the way forcefully. "You are not fighting your wife anymore. You are fighting Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra. Get out of my life, or die." She growls fiercely.

She slices the sword with her finger, and it breaks in half. The piece that was separated from the hilt breaks into many other pieces, as well.

Tarin was now without a weapon. He had to use his bare fists if he wanted to stand any chance against Adelenn. "Grrrr! So be it! I will just have to fight you with my own hands!" He says. He puts his hands up and begins to swing at Adelenn. He was fast, but she was beyond faster. Every attack he made, Adelenn was able to easily dodge it.

"You really are desperate, aren't you?" Adelenn asks. "Do what you want. I won't stop you. You may be using a flawed tactic, but I have no say in it. But there's one thing you forgot to look at…

"You've never tasted the sting of my blade yet."

"You have a WEAPON!? IMPOSSIBLE! What kind of weapon could this be!?" Tarin yells at the other heroes. They say nothing at first. "Say something NOW!" They all smile. "Hehehe, he's going down with THAT." Link laughs heartily. "Hehe, THAT's surely gonna put 'im down." Mario smiles. "Jeez, don't go too easy on him! THAT will make it much harder!" Jaraberutzu giggles.

Adelenn snaps her fingers with her right hand, and her weapon appears.

It was very similar to her first scythe. Its blade retained the crescent shape, but the sharp edge of the scythe was black, and the hilt was black with designs of fire and skulls on it. Inside of the fiery bubbles were the heads of every single person that she knew and loved. Geno, Link, Lupo, Vivian, Jaraberutzu, Mario, Patricia, the two Pokémon, and Rosalina were used as designs. They were her family. She loved them to death.

"I am the Second Death of Fear. Tarin Duce, you have met with a terrible fate… You are fighting someone with skill far beyond yours. My name is Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra, and I am your final opponent. Do not take this personally."

She raises her entire scythe by the edge of the hilt, and brings the blade to Tarin's neck. He was incredibly scared of Adelenn. "What!? What is this!? When did you get this power of the Demon Queen!? It's not fair! I should be generations stronger than you would ever be! I SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO KILLS YOU!" He points at her.

She says nothing for a moment, but her scythe does otherwise. It glows an eerie purple, and pulsates brilliantly. She was about to unleash an attack from the scythe itself. She raises her scythe in her left hand, and holds it horizontally, to her left.

"…Máquina." She mutters.

When she does so, she attacks with the scythe. The sheer force of the attack was too much for Tarin to handle, as he starts bleeding profusely in the stomach. He was cut cleanly through his waist. From the attack, and was sent into the wall once more. He tries to get up but cannot.

However, following that attack, was something odd. It was a beam of energy in the shape of another scythe. It was hurtling towards Tarin.

"No. No! NO! NO! I CAN'T LOSE! NOT NOW! NOT WHILE I STILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CREATE A NEW GENERATION!"

His head then takes the full impact of the attack. He is then covered by debris and smoke. His body was turning back into pure dark energy. It flows majestically, but it ultimately disappears from view. All that was left was the Purple Crystal Sun that he left behind. It was over.

Adelenn had won the fight against Tarin.

"Oh. My. Goodness." Vivian gasps, her jaw open wide. "Mama Mia…" Mario, Link and Geno say together. The others just watch as she slowly descends back onto the center platform. Her wing folds back into position, yet her crown and dark energy still flow wildly.

She walks back to the other heroes. Every step she takes creates a small crater on the floor. She was powerful enough to crush the very ground underneath her. Her dress was slightly torn around her stomach. It was clearly visible, and the scars from her slavery were showing. It was gruesome to look at. It made some of the other heroes cringe.

It then growls horribly.

"…" She says nothing at first, looking at her stomach. She takes a few seconds to rub it slowly.

"…I'm hungry." She whispers. "I'm like, really, really, REALLY hungry. Geno, feed me some meat please!" She claps her hands together, politely commanding Geno to do something for her.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU, WOMAN!" Geno throws his hat into the ground abruptly. "See, this is why you should take a snack or somethin' with you! Then you wouldn't be so hungry! And you might need it, too! Look at how thin your stomach is!"

"B-but my chest is nice and big and healthy, right? Right!?" Adelenn asks innocently, putting her hands on her chest. Jaraberutzu giggles, then proceeds to laugh heavily. "HAAAA! SHE SAID IT! SHE SAID THAT! YOU SAID IT, ADELENN!" She rolls on the floor, laughing immensely.

"…I'm still hungry, though." She says. "Thanks for encouraging me throughout the fight. It really made me feel better. I felt like I can do a lot more things now!" She smiles. "Also, my voice echoes when I talk! I even have a bigger wing, and my scythe is all cool and stuff 'cuz it has Geno, and Aunt Rosa, and Link, and Mario, and you other guys! That's really neat!"

"More importantly, though… do you realize what happened to yourself?" Geno asks. Adelenn decides to look at herself when he says this. "Uh… I got sick?" She gives up. She had no idea about what Geno was talking about.

"You're not sure?" Link says. Adelenn nods. "I don't know! Tarin was acting really weird when he saw this floating thing on my head. He must've not liked how I looked." She grunts, putting her hands on her hips. Mario sighs. "Well, I guess we should tell you." He states.

"You're the Demon Queen, Adelenn." Patricia explains.

Adelenn was surprised. She never thought that she would be the Demon Queen. Not ever. She would have never thought that she would be so significant in life; not after all of the grueling days of slavery she had. "Demon… Queen? I'm a Queen?" She wonders. Everyone nods. "Sol. Ab-Absol." Soulola points at her, explaining how it happened. "Whoa. That was weird." Adelenn states.

"But that means I'm a queen now! Yaaaay! The queen gets to do WHATEVER she wants!" She exclaims happily. "Now Geno HAS to get me some food, or else he'll be in biiiiiiiiig trouble!" Geno rolls his eyes. "Whatever you say, your majesty." He groans. "First, we need to get the Crystal Sun. It's over where Tarin disappeared."

There were some large stones floating out of the water, and led straight to where Tarin met his demise. Mario jumps and hops towards this area, and removes the stones. There, he finds the Crystal Sun. It shines just as brilliantly as the rest. "Mama Mia. This one is really shiny." He says, covering his eyes from its flare. From there, he goes ahead and tries to pick it up.

When he does though, something happens. The Crystal Sun slowly begins to lose its shininess. It then loses its sparkles.

It then loses its color.

"WHAT!?" Mario shouts, bewildered at the sight of this. "W-w-what happened to the Crystal Sun!? It's lost its color!"

Geno perks his head up at what Mario says. "Wait a minute! How!?" He asks. Link was watching the entire thing, noticing that it lost its color. "That can't be right. That can't be right at all." Link wonders. "The Crystal Sun doesn't seem to have been used at all. Why would it run out of juice now?"

"Strange…" Geno puts his hand on his chin. "A whole bunch of events have been occurring as of late. Rosalina has a strange connection with Link, Adelenn becomes Demon Queen… now this…? Do you think Adelenn could've accidentally drained its power?"

"How could she do that, Geno? She hasn't even bitten it yet." Jaraberutzu asks. "Bitten? Why would she need to bite it?" He asks back. "Look at her two fangs. Those snaggleteeth aren't just for show. They signify the mark of the Demon Queen. Those fangs are meant to absorb all kinds of evil or dark things, whether it be magic, mana, energy, or a number of other things." She replies.

"Not to mention that whatever she bites will pretty much die due to her fangs breaking down the components of her victim into pure energy. But, it only works on things she considers her enemies. Don't worry about it too much if Adelenn decides to bite you out of affection."

"Affection? What is affectionate about biting someone?" Geno asks.

Suddenly, Adelenn begins to harmlessly bite Geno in the neck. He thought he was going to die. "OH NO!" He gasps, trying to get rid of non-existent venom in his neck. Adelenn giggles. "Hehe, I'm Dracula's great granddaughter! Fear me! Teehee!" Adelenn states, continuing to nibble on Geno's poor neck.

Fortunately, he was not dead. Jaraberutzu was right about Adelenn not being able to kill her friends in a single bite. "…Oh. Oh, okay." Geno grunts. "Adelenn! You made me worry over nothing!" Geno growls. She merely giggles. "Sorryyyyy!" She frowns, and backs away.

"…Hmm…" Link says, looking at the once-purple Crystal Sun, and looking at the one they last retrieved. "It might not be true, but I think that there's something wrong with the energy that was once in it. Crystal Suns are a mixture of purely light and dark energies. The fact that I can't sense dark magic in this must mean…"

"We should take it to Rosalina, if this is the case." Vivian states. "She's an expert on all things energy. I bet that she'll know something abo-"

Suddenly, they all hear a voice. "My children… Where are you…? I am contacting you from the Observatory. I must ask of you to come back. There is someone here that you must all meet. Including Adelenn. But please, tell me of your mission."

It was the beautiful voice of Rosalina, and she was telepathically speaking with the heroes. "Lady Rosalina! We're in the Hazy Maze Cave, and we just finished collecting the sixth Crystal Sun. But…" Mario pauses. He didn't know how to explain it to Rosalina.

"What is the matter? Is something wrong?" Rosalina asks. "Yeah, something IS wrong, Lady Rosalina. The Crystal Sun is acting up, and we need you to see it right away. What a coincidence, huh?" Link smirks. "I see. Come here as soon as possible. I will be waiting for you patiently." She replies.

Her voice could be heard no longer, meaning that she was done speaking telepathically. The other heroes now knew what they had to do. "So… any ideas on how to get back?" Patricia looks at Mario. "I accidentally left the Exit Pipe back at the Observatory, so we have to get back through the hard way… busting open this cave and going through the waterfall."

"YAAAY! We get to have some fun again!" Adelenn smiles brilliantly. She was excited to do something more interactive and engaging. "So, I have an idea! Let's use Patricia, and on the count of three, we throw her into the wall, and she can use a super drill punch thing! IT'S PERFECT!" She schemes, giggling mischievously.

"I can't drill things as well as you might think I can." Patricia says. Link giggles, and uses this time to perform an ultimate joke. "Hehehe, yes she can. She can drill things REAL good. Rock is no match for her!" Link smiles evilly, and is immediately struck in the face by Patricia.

"Dude! Too soon! Don't be saying things like that in front of Adelenn!" Patricia growls, squeezing his hand with much strength, but he merely shrugs. "Sorry, honey. Hehe, didn't mean to embarrass you by denouncing your awesome drilling skill." He pats Patricia's head, and gives her a light kiss on the nose. "Don't feel too bad about it. Let's go see what Lady Rosalina is up to. Mario, you lead the way."

"…Did he just kiss me?" Patricia asks herself.

Mario points towards the right. "That is southwest. That wall is where the waterfall is. Someone's gotta bust it open… Who's up for the job?" He asks. The heroes all look at each other. "Not me. I'll destroy this planet trying to bust open a silly wall." Link smirks. Patricia was about to, but she said that her hand was feeling numb. The others were still undecided.

"Oooh! Pick me! Pick me! I'd LOVE to hit a wall open!" Adelenn claps her hands together, creating an enormous gust of wind, picking up rocks the size of a building. Without any warning, she walks towards the wall, causing even more destruction in her path by creating craters with every step.

"Oi… it's only been five minutes that she's been the Demon Queen, and she's already causing havoc… How am I gonna explain this to Mama?" Geno sighs deeply. "Weeee! I'm gonna make Geno happy, and I'm gonna break this wall… y? Is that a word that rhymes with happy?" She wonders as she continues to walk her way to the wall.

She then readies her right hand. She was going to strike the wall with less than a quarter of her strength. "I bet that this'll be really easy. Here goes!" Adelenn squints her eyes, scared that she might hurt herself when she attacks the wall. "Heeeeeyaaaaaah!" She squeals, and releases her hand.

It makes contact with the wall. Normally, a wall would just crack or break completely if she had the power to do so. However… Adelenn's attack was so powerful that the entire wall breaks into dust when she punches it. Even she was surprised that such a thing happened.

"Whoooooa! The wall was like, SUPER soft when I punched it! Guys, did you SEE that!? It was AMAZING!" She squeals, balling up excitement in her face. On the other side of the now-obliterated wall was the river that the heroes saw in the front entrance. It was so clean and clear, and the heroes wanted to touch it.

But now wasn't the time to be doing such things. They created too much of a ruckus. They could hear Toads from outside running towards the river. They've been found out. "Oh no! The cute little Toads are back to try and kill us!" Adelenn wonders, stomping her feet as lightly as possible, and nearly caving in the heroes at the same time.

"Calm down, Adelenn! That mana of yours can kill those Toads by itself! Try to conceal it so that you don't harm them." Link encourages Adelenn, and holds her hands. He looks her in the eye. "Breathe slowly. Calm down, and don't focus too hard on the commotion outside. That'll help you to conceal that mana."

"Do you wanna kiss me, Link? Is that why you're holding my hand? If you wanna kiss you can just ask." Adelenn wonders, tilting her head in confusion. Link blushes. "No, that's not what I'm doing. I'm trying to help you concentrate. Now focus, okay?" He says, looking at Patricia, who shakes her head. Geno was even more embarrassed because Adelenn was pretending to be HIS wife. "Adelenn…" Geno mutters.

She gasps. "Oh yeah, I'm still Geno's wife! You can't do anything to me, or he'll fight you and win!" She exclaims.

Mario snorts and giggles. "Hehehehehe…" He chuckles, knowing full well what would happen if Geno fought Link. "Concentrate, Adelenn." Link reminds her. She settles down, and begins to concentrate with Link. She breathes slowly, and loosens up. Her muscles are now relaxed. She takes another deep breath, and finally calms down.

But in reality, she falls asleep standing up. She snores loudly, slumping onto Link's shoulder. "Are you serious right now?" Geno growls. He doesn't understand how quickly Adelenn falls into slumber. "How many times am I gonna have to carry this girl?" He giggles.

"Well, no time to explain! Let's-a go!" Mario shouts. Immediately, he and Lupo jump out the waterfall. Vivian latches onto Mario's hat, and turns into a shadow. RAWR swiftly follows behind them.

The four all run to the Warp Pipe. Many Toads surrounded it, and try to stop them. "RRRRRAWR!" RAWR bellows, shooting a beam of ice at all of the Toads. This attack was Ice Beam, and has a chance of freezing his opponents. Luckily, it does so perfectly. The four exit through the Warp Pipe immediately. "YIPEEEE!" They all shout, leaving the Toads in the dust.

"Let's go, Honey Wagon." Link smirks, picking up Patricia along with the sleeping Adelenn. "HEY! I CAN WALK BY MYSELF!" She yells, hitting Link continuously in the head. "…Alright, Geno… this is gonna hurt a little." He smiles.

"Wait, wh-"

Suddenly, Link kicks Geno with massive force, punting him right into the Warp Pipe. "DARN YOU LIIIIIINK!" He yells at him before disappearing into the Warp Pipe.

"…Was that really necessary, Link?" Jaraberutzu puts her hands on her hips. "…Yes. Now take Soulola and go, before she starts getting TOO excited, and starts attacking the Toads." Link states, giving Soulola to Jaraberutzu.

"Now, let's go!" Link shouts, and starts dashing very quickly. He had his Bunny Hood on, increasing his speed significantly. "CHOOCHOOOOOO!" He shifts his feet in such a way that he appears to be creating smoke from his feet. Then, he begins running.

Although he limits his own speed, he is fast enough to jump across an entire river, and go through the Warp Pipe without being noticed by the frozen Toads. "Do you always have to act stupid when you hold back?" Patricia asks him, her arms crossed in disappointment.

"…Yes." He smiles innocently before disappearing into the Warp Pipe. Jaraberutzu quickly follows. All of the heroes make it through safely, and the Warp Pipe disappears behind them.

"Was that… were those the people we were looking for?" Asks one Toad. "…Yes, that was, dummy. Didn't you see the pictures?" The first Toad then looks at a picture of the ten heroes. "Oh… I guess you were right…" He whispers. He then tenses up.

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX END?


	28. 27: The Golden Ray

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Golden Ray

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 4

The Warping process of the Warp Pipe was taking quite a while. The heroes could see nothing but darkness for the next five minutes. They were starting to get worried that something was happening on the other side of the Warp Pipe that's prolonging their trip.

The method of travel in a Warp Pipe is actually through a suctioning system. The heroes are actually being sucked out of the Warp Pipe in the direction they were heading in. Quite revolutionary for its time. This method is why it takes such a short time to get to places.

"It just keeps on going, doesn't it?" Link grits his teeth. He was uncertain of what was going on. He was still carrying the sleeping Demon Queen, Adelenn, while Patricia kept checking to see if the other heroes were doing alright. Every once in a while, Adelenn would snore loudly. This was normal for her to do.

"Soool! Absol." Soulola exclaims to Lupo. "Uh, what's she saying, Link?" Lupo asks, as she is unable to understand animals. "Soulola wants to know what happened to Adelenn. She thinks you know." Link replies. Lupo merely shrugs. "Sorry, girly. I dunno." She frowns, patting Soulola's head. She retreats back into Link's messenger bag.

Mario keeps a close eye on the path behind them. He could hear nobody progressing, so it was fine. "Geno… Adelenn's power is different now. Whatever happened to her, I was able to sense the changes. Mama Mia, it's as if she transformed into a different person entirely! Her mana reeks of evil energy." Mario exclaims while Geno slowly nods. "I sensed it too. That doesn't even feel like Adelenn anymore…

"It feels like we've created a monster, Mario. This is simply her nature, and we're already intimidated." Geno knows that even the massive power that they sense now is just a Demon Queen that is docile. The power of a Demon Queen is so powerful that it can negate even the toughest of magic, mana and aura.

He was starting to see it in Lupo and Vivian. Their faces were getting pale. They were being sucked dry of energy. "You guys all right? You don't look too hot." Patricia asks them, and they shake their heads. "We'll make it, but I can't figure out what's making us sick."

"That must be from Adelenn's mana. I can feel it a little bit, too." Link says, curling up his fist. "Heh, so this is what my mana must feel like when others experience it." He was not surprised that Adelenn's mana was draining life from some of the heroes. It could only be because her power is as monstrous as Link's.

Soon, they see the light of the Warp Pipe's entrance. "Nice, we're here. I was starting to wonder what took so long." Jaraberutzu smirks. "Well, that's sweet." Patricia grins. "Now we can relax for a little while in the observatory."

"Yeah, but we also need to figure out what's up with this thing." Mario says, holding the pale rock that was once the purple Crystal Sun. He still can't wrap his head around how it lost its power, and how to even begin with restoring it. "Whatever it is, Rosalina might know what to do." Link replies. "I mean, she usually has the answers we need, right?"

With that, the ten heroes enter the light and exit the Warp Pipe, just as Adelenn wakes up…

MEANWHILE…

"It has been a long time, friend." Rosalina smiles. "I remember how long it has been. You have been gone for twenty-five years, searching the inner universe far and wide. And you found yourself here on the Grand Rose… You nearly brought me to tears upon seeing you."

The person she was talking to was cloaked in darkness. All that was known was that the figure was very tall. This person almost achieves seven feet in height.

"It really has, hasn't it? I'm sorry it was so sudden… All I did was leave you a letter… I didn't even say goodbye." The voice was feminine, and it was so innocent and beautiful. It was indeed a woman. "No matter. It was fate that we would meet again. Mama heavily believes in fate." Rosalina smiles.

The woman smiles back weakly. "I guess so… I was going to leave this planet until I saw the Cosmic Observatory… You purposely designed the cloaking device to only show to friends and family. It's very clever. What a great way to protect the ones you love." She says.

"Now, now. We can't have that beautiful face of yours become depressive. You'll begin to grow frown marks." Rosalina states, and gives the woman a big, welcoming hug. "You're a big, strong woman. You said it yourself. You can handle anything as long as you set your heart to it."

"Yes, I can!" The woman smiles brightly. "But… I still haven't found what I was looking for."

Rosalina releases from the hug, and smiles back at her.

"But I have… you are in luck. It looks like I found what you were looking for by complete accident. Isn't friendship wonderful?" Rosalina says. The woman perks her head up immediately. "You have!?" Her heart springs up in excitement. "I can't believe it! After all this time, you finally did it! I'm so glad that you were able to do it!"

"Hahaha… It is good to have you back at last…

"…Marvisshla."

The woman named Marvisshla finally smiles brightly. She then brought herself to tears of absolute joy. She couldn't help but squeeze back. At the same time, the darkness unwraps from her, and her features were shown. She had long, black hair that touches the floor. Resting on her head was a crown made of golden energy. It flickers like fire. She wore a small, green dress with wonderful black designs on it. They looked aged. Marvisshla's skin was fair and flawless. However, she was lacking a certain part of her body.

Her right eye.

"It's good to have you back too. It's also wonderful that you were able to help me. You're the best…

"…Aunt Rosa."

This woman was a Demon herself. Behind her back is a set of two golden wings. These features combined together leave behind all of the evidence in itself. "…Welcome to the Grand Rose." Rosalina sniffs, trying to contain her sobs of joy.

Suddenly, Rosalina and Marvisshla sense mana. The mana of ten people. Four of which were astoundingly powerful. Three were of light, and one of darkness. Rosalina opens her eyes wide. The fourth mana was unlike any other she's sensed before.

"…What is this?" Rosalina mutters to herself, curling up her hand. "I can only sense nine of my darling friends… The last one is something terrible and dark… what is this uneasiness that I feel?"

"What's wrong, Aunt Rosa? You said something about the mana of one of those kids. I can sense ten of them." Marvisshla asks Rosalina, putting her hand on her shoulder. "I can also sense ten of them, my dear. One of them is not the same one that left the Observatory a few hours ago. I cannot assume anything at this point." She replies.

Suddenly, a Warp Pipe emerges from the ground. Rosalina jerks her head in its direction. "There's the Pipe. Be ready." She whispers.

First, Mario and Geno exit the Warp Pipe by jumping straight out of it. Both of them bow. "Lady Rosalina!" They shout aloud. Following them is Patricia, Jaraberutzu and the two Pokémon. "YO! WE'RE BACK!" Patricia smiles. Lupo and Vivian were behind them as well. "Ey, Rosalina! What's going on?" Lupo says.

"Ah, my friends… you came back safely!" Rosalina gives a small smile. She counts the heroes, but can only find eight of them. "Just a second… where is Link and...?"

"Oh, don't worry. Link and Adelenn are already coming this way." Vivian smiles happily. "When they come, we'll tell you everything we have to discuss about." Patricia adds.

"I don't get it, Aunt Rosa. These nice kids seem to act as if nothing's wrong… but what is this dark mana that I feel? It doesn't feel like a hero at all." Marvisshla says. "I could not agree with you more, Marvisshla. This does not bode well." Rosalina nods.

Seconds later, Link emerges from the Warp Pipe. He flips three times in the air before bowing. "Lady Rosalina! I'm back!" Link smirks. "Adelenn should be coming in any moment. ADELEEEEEENN!" He shouts into the Warp Pipe, looking into it as well.

Soon enough, the wonderful Adelenn herself emerges from the Warp Pipe.

"YIPPEEEEE!" She shouts freely, jumping several feet into the air. She soars highly and gracefully. She glides before landing. "Hey, Aunt Rosa! I'm baaack!"

As soon as Adelenn appears, Marvisshla senses it. The dark mana she was sensing was coming from Adelenn. "THERE!" She shouts aloud. "Wait! Marvisshla! What are you doing!?" Rosalina tries to stop her.

However, Marvisshla was already in the process of attacking Adelenn. With such insane speed, she advances towards Adelenn with one hand. She was going to rush at her and punch her with deadly force.

"Don't come any closer, criminal!" Marvisshla shouts. She then releases her hand right into Adelenn.

Adelenn catches the attack with both of her hands just in time. The sheer power of Marvisshla's attack sends her backward by several hundred feet. She skids across the Observatory. Adelenn was surprised that someone was attacking her soon after she woke up.

"Hey! Why don't you pick on somebody else!? I'm stilly sleepy!" Adelenn frowns, throwing Marvisshla back with such incredible force. Marvisshla was about to slam into the Observatory, but plants her feet into it, and throws herself back at Adelenn.

Marvisshla attempts to attack her several times, but each attack misses. Adelenn is great at dodging, but the same thing happens when she tries to attack rapidly. "Wow! You fight just like me! You're pretty good!" Adelenn smiles.

Luckily, she ducks in time before getting punched by Marvisshla. "I'm gonna make sure you do not hurt any of these kids! Don't think that you're getting away easily!" She growls. Adelenn snarls back. "GRRR! I'm scary, too! Watch out, missy! I've got the power to protect my friends from a booger head like you!" She replies.

Both snap their fingers.

Adelenn now has her scythe in her hand. It was long and sharp, as usual. She was awaiting the weapon that Marvisshla was going to use.

However, Marvisshla didn't have a weapon.

She had two weapons. One in her left hand was a giant metal mace. It was incredibly heavy, but Marvisshla didn't even notice it. The other was a red scimitar that shines in the moonlight. Both were extremely dangerous melee weapons.

"Whoooa! That's so COOL!" Adelenn smiles. She always wanted to fight with two weapons, but only learned to use her scythe. "Your weapon is impressive itself. I must say, it looks familiar, even though I've never seen such a curved scythe before." Marvisshla smirks. "It won't stop you from losing, though."

Marvisshla proceeds to then attack Adelenn with both weapons at the same time. She used the scimitar to get in close and attack fast, while using the mace as an attempt to break Adelenn's guard. However, Adelenn would not loosen her guard. She pushes Marvisshla away to attack herself.

Although she does not have a separate weapon for attacking and breaking defense, her scythe attacks were doing the job just fine. Marvisshla was having trouble keeping up with such fast strokes. 'None of us are taking this fight seriously, yet I still feel like I'm not doing so well. Who is this woman?' Marvisshla thinks to herself.

Just before Marvisshla advances to attack once more, Adelenn looks to her left. "Hey, Aunt Rosa!" Adelenn yells to Rosalina. "This person! She fights really good and stuff! Do you know her?!"

"Wait a minute… You called her 'Aunt Rosa.' That's the name I gave Aunt Rosa." Marvisshla wonders. 'Is she a clone of me? Or is she reading my mind? She does look an awful lot like myself, that's for sure.' She thinks to herself. She gazes at Adelenn a bit more.

"Adelenn, Marvisshla! Please, cease your fighting! That dark mana that I sensed was that innocent girl you're fighting right now!" Rosalina shouts nervously. "I can't right now, Aunt Rosa! I have to fight this woman to protect your friends!" She replies back.

The other heroes were frantically waving their arms as well. "That IS our friend!" Mario shouts loudly. "Yeah! Don't hurt Adelenn! She's a friend of ours!" Link adds. Marvisshla was confused. The dark mana from Adelenn was making her unknowing of the fact that she is not truthfully evil. However, it feels like that to her.

"She's not an enemy, Aunt Rosa!?" Marvisshla asks.

"She's a friend, Aunt Rosa!?" Adelenn squeals.

"YES!" Rosalina and the other nine heroes shout at the same time.

Marvisshla then turns to Adelenn. "Young Lady! State your name!" She commands. Adelenn immediately nods. "Okay! I am the Second Death of Fear! I am 25 years old! I have a lot of friends, and they all love me and stuff!" Adelenn exclaims loudly.

"A Death… is the friend of heroes? How is this possible?" Marvisshla grinds her teeth together, still suspicious of Adelenn. "Adelenn USED to be the Death of Fear, but that's all in the past, Ms. Marvisshla." Geno exclaims. "Continue, Adelenn."

"My full name is Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra, and Aunt Rosa and my friends are the best!" She smiles happily.

The name "Boskra" echoes in Marvisshla's head several times. "Boskra... Boskra... Boskra…" Marvisshla speaks in monotone, almost zoning out. "…That is my last name… You share the last name as the Boskra royal family… I am the latest one of that bloodline." She says.

"My name is Marvisshla Seinlasca Boskra, and I am the last Demon Queen; Golden Ray."

The other heroes gasp. "Another Demon Queen? Sweet!" Jaraberutzu shouts aloud. "But that means both of you are years apart."

"Ooooh. No wonder you're so strong! You're a Demon Queen, too!" Adelenn states. Marvisshla perks her head up. "What do you mean? I am the last Demon Queen. The next one has not been born yet." She exclaims. "The Demon Queen, when born, always wears a crown of some sort on her he-"

She then catches a glimpse of Adelenn's head. Resting upon it was a black crown made of energy. Like hers, it flickers like fire. A sure sign of the Demon Queen. Rosalina gasps. "When…? This is the dark mana that I sensed earlier. It was not a different person at all. Adelenn's mana changed on its own." Rosalina whispers. "She is a Demon Queen."

Marvisshla was in a shock. She has seen another Demon Queen that was younger than herself. "How… how old are you again?" Marvisshla's voice wavers. She was starting to piece everything together. Adelenn perks her head up with a brilliant smile.

"Twenty-five." She says.

Marvisshla drops her weapons. She forces her legs to fail her, and she kneels on the floor. "Twenty-five years ago… Twenty-five years ago was when my baby girl was stolen from me… I was going to be a mother… until someone stole her away from me." Marvisshla mutters. Her body violently shakes. "Twenty-five years of searching for that child of mine… I didn't even notice. Your smell, your looks… your smile…" She pauses for a moment to let Adelenn sink it in.

"Wait… what?" Adelenn wonders. She's trying to piece it together, but can't quite grasp the true form of her words. The other heroes already figured it out.

"Adelenn Kenlasca Boskra… I am Marvisshla Seinlasca Boskra… The Golden Ray Demon Queen…" Marvisshla adds.

"…And your mother."

Adelenn's eye opens widely. She now understands what Marvisshla is saying. She starts to shake. "M-mommy? You're my… mommy?" Adelenn asks. Marvisshla nods her head slowly. "Yes… I'm your one and only mother. I am so incredibly sorry for not finding you earlier… Adelenn… my daughter."

Adelenn drops her own weapon, and it disappears from sight. She understands now that the person kneeling before her is her own parent. When she was able to smell, it was an unmistakable odor. It smelled like herself.

"MOMMY!" Adelenn squeals, running into Marvisshla with incredible speed. She tackles her, and gives Marvisshla a massive hug. She then starts kissing Marvisshla in the cheek to show her affection. "I HAVE A MOMMY! THAT'S SO AWESOME!" She yells aloud, squeezing Marvisshla even harder. Soon enough, both of them were crying. Tears ran down their faces, as they smile and hug each other.

The other heroes were already starting to become moved. Geno and Mario painfully smile, trying to contain their tears. Vivian and Lupo already broke down. RAWR and Soulola were singing happily with each other. Jaraberutzu was not phased, but still gives a smile.

Patricia then proceeds to sidle right next to Link. "Wow." Link says. "A mother reuniting with her child… It's a wonderful thing, isn't it?" Patricia could only agree with Link. "Yep. It's such a mystical thing."

Link then wraps his arm around Patricia. "I love you, my beautiful grease machine." Link smiles. He then picks up Patricia and kisses her in the mouth.

Patricia blushes. "…I love you too, Jerk of Time." Patricia replies with another aggressive kiss to the mouth. Link's pointy ears raise. "Wait, we're in a public space, Pat." Link says, slowly trying to pull away. Patricia would not stop, though, as she pulls Link back in. She continues without hesitation, her eyes still closed. "Pat… Pat. Pat! PAT!" Link starts to yell, but even that was not working. She was backing him up right into the wall of the Terrace Dome. Patricia was not listening to anything else. 'Uh oh.' Link thinks.

A FEW MINUTES LATER…

Everyone was settled into a seat in the Library. They were about to discuss everything that was happening at the moment. They all turn to Marvisshla, as they wanted to learn more about her.

"Well… let's start with how I even got to know Aunt Rosa." Marvisshla starts. She clears her throat to make sure everyone was paying attention. "I was a little Demon Child. As all of you might know, I am from the Boskra family. You might not know that the Boskra Demon Family is a noble family. Basically, we had a lot of money to spend. I was born into that family a long time ago… about 120,001 years ago."

"Whoa… that's a long time ago." Patricia says, trying not to be rude. "It definitely was." Marvisshla agrees. "Back then, we didn't have as much technology as we do now, so I would entertain myself by playing with the various toys that we had saved… there were a lot of them. When I wasn't outside playing, I was playing with these wooden dolls. Surprisingly, one of them looked like that Luma's puppet. Please, do tell me your name. It helps me know you guys better."

'How did she know I was a Luma from just looking at me?' Geno wonders. She must be very intelligent to tell what species a creature is. "My name is Geno. I'm Rosalina's 7,777,777th Star-Class Luma. I'm very different from the septillions of other Lumas in the world." Geno replies. Marvisshla smiles. "You have a wonderful smile. Do you have a wife?" She asks.

"Uh, well… n-"

"Yes he does!" Lupo states, holding Geno in place. "He has a wife! Her name is Jaraberutzu!" She puts on an evil smirk over her face, and chuckles at Geno. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WOMAN!?" Geno shouts, shaking his fist at Lupo.

"Well, I SUPPOSE I need a little bit of Oak in my diet… hmmhmm…" Jaraberutzu smiles, posing attractively. "HEY! Don't feed Lupo's nonsense, Jara!" Geno growls at her, resulting in laughter from Mario.

Link looks around before looking at Geno, and placing his hand on his shoulder. "Hey… you can count on me to be the Best Man for your wedding that's coming up." Link says, resulting in a fierce slap from Patricia. "Dummy." She mutters. Mario couldn't take it. "OOOHOOHOOOHOO! MAMA MIA!" He laughs heartily, rolling on the floor.

Marvisshla then continues. "I see. You kids seem to have a good head on your shoulders. I trust you all so well, and we've hardly even met. Anyway, let's get back to my story." She says.

"I was a child who thought that every child was as lucky as I was. However, the truth hit me hard when one of my friends in Gendola died because he was in poverty, and couldn't afford food. He even told me that he was dying, and I tried my best to help… I nearly failed in doing so. My parents were abominable. They would not allow me to even take my own allowance to help save a child's life. I had to practically steal from my parents to save that friend of mine.

"He was a good kid. His name was Aden. He had no last name. He had short, orange hair, and a set of black wings. He was one of the most handsome people in the universe. Together, we ran away from Gendola. Since we were some of the fastest Demons, we left without a trace. I hated that place anyway. It was so barren and dull.

"When we left, we caught a glimpse of a shooting star that suddenly stopped in its tracks. We went to check, and there, we saw an Observatory. It looked like a house to us, so we decided to drop in. Of course, being children, we didn't know stealing was a bad thing. That is, until Aunt Rosa caught us."

"Haha. The look on your faces when I walked into the kitchen to see you two children stuffing yourselves with a few cookies. Priceless!" Rosalina giggles. "We were taught soon after that children shouldn't steal from other people to profit themselves. We learned so much in that instant, that we wanted to say with her forever. She was like a mother to us… We loved Aunt Rosa to death."

"I love Aunt Rosa too!" Adelenn smiles. "She feeds us and sings songs with us and even plays with us! She does so much to make us happy!" Rosalina couldn't help but blush. "Oh my! Adelenn, you definitely get into the details." She giggles.

She then whispers into Marvisshla's ear. "I'm terribly sorry to bear such bad news, but your child is mentally ill. We do not know the cause of it. She is limited to think as though she were the age of six." She says. Marvisshla only smiles. "I think that it's better this way. She was aggressive when she was an infant. She would flail her arms and legs wildly. Now, she seems like she wouldn't hurt a fly." She replies happily, looking at her daughter.

"Now, we've been with Aunt Rosa for a good 119,991 years. We were adults, but we still clinged to her like magnets. But, Aden and I grew to love each other in a totally new way… He became such a good man. He would do things for me as if I were the only person in the world. He'd help others around him, whether they really needed it or not. I fell in love with him when I was 30 years old, and he was 60 years old. The curse was more lenient back then. Fast-forward up to twenty-five years ago in Year Star Coin, and I was married. Soon after, I was bearing a child… Adelenn." She smiles, touching Adelenn's nose. "That's you! My beautiful baby girl."

"Wait, so did I come in a bag that was carried by a bird that took a nine-month trip because Mommy and Daddy REALLY loved each other?" Adelenn asks Rosalina. "Hehehe… Something like that… we call it pregnancy." Patricia says. "Sounds like a pastry when you think about it long enough…" Link smiles. He was obviously hungry for some desserts.

"However… things went south once we had Adelenn. As soon as we were going to take Adelenn outside for the first time since she was born in the Observatory… I was knocked unconscious. Someone attacked me from behind, leaving me on the cold ground. When I woke up…" She started shivering. Link took this as a bad omen, and sits up straight.

"…I saw him lying on the floor next to me. He… He would not move. No matter how much I tried to shake him awake, nothing would get him to stand... he was gone. He was in a better place after I rightfully buried him…" She was about to cry, but holds her tears in.

"Then, for twenty-five years, I searched everywhere. Being one of the fastest beings in the universe, I decided to check the entire inner universe; planet by planet. I found nothing. This continued to happen well into Year Star Star… and then… my entire world lit up. Aunt Rosa had accidentally found my child…"

"We found Adelenn." She whispers. Her tears finally show once more. She had released everything she needed to talk about. "Wow, what a good story." Adelenn smiles. "Aunt Rosa is good at telling stories too, Mommy."

Marvisshla smiles. "I know! She's told me more stories than you would even think of! And all of them are beautiful." She says. Adelenn's face beams. "REALLY!? Aunt Rosa, how many more stories do you have left!?"

"Plenty." Rosalina says with a smile. "Is that the end of your story?" She asks the other Demon Queen, and she nods. "Yes... I'm done." Marvisshla replies. "...Didn't you kids have something to speak with us about?"

All of the heroes turn to Mario. He pulls out the Crystal Sun that lost its power, and shows it to Rosalina. "…Here's what we have to talk about." Mario whispers.

A snap runs through Rosalina's brain. She senses that the Crystal Sun she's looking at has lost more than three-quarters of its original power. "What… what is the meaning of this? When did you find it in such a decrepit state?" She points. Whatever took the Crystal Sun's power away was not from this world. Or this galaxy, for that matter.

"Bring it here, dear Mario. I must check the cause of the disturbance." Rosalina commands. Mario gets up from his seat, and walks to Rosalina, giving her the Crystal Sun. She then places it on her lap. From there, Rosalina uses it as though it were a crystal ball. Within a few seconds, she had her answer.

"Planet Deathstone… A couple of warriors from that planet accidentally stole the Crystal Sun's power away… They are in a different universe, and I do believe Arceus goes there from time to time. I must hand it to them, they are quite skilled in the arts of Kaicho, even though they failed to use it correctly."

"…Oh?" Rosalina says, delving deeper into this sight. "The presence of dark energy is strong in Deathstone. It is almost as if it is sugarcoated with the stuff. Wait… It stopped moving, and the dark energy scattered… This is indeed a strange planet that I see."

"So what do we do? Do we go and talk with these guys and tell them to give it back?" Patricia asks. Rosalina rapidly shakes her head. "I advise not doing that. Not only are they somewhat dangerous, they do not seem to be the talkative type. Plus… they are VERY profane, and I cannot have Adelenn hearing their nonsense." She replies.

"Mommy, what's 'profane'? Sounds like a type of chicken." Adelenn asks Marvisshla. She shrugs. "It's a bad word. Something like f-"

"-LIP!" Geno follows immediately. "…Flip is a bad word?" Marvisshla asks. "Uh… n-no! You were about to speak something not allowed on this story! I couldn't have that at all!" Geno replies. "…I was gonna say 'flamer'." Marvisshla replies back.

"This is not going to be an issue in the close future. Besides that… I believe that this has been sucked dry of its dark energy." Rosalina continues. "The Crystal Suns, depending on which one it is, needs a definite mixture of dark magic and light magic. Without this combination, it cannot work. I know this because it is made out of the same material as a Grand Star. I can sense it."

"So what does that mean for us? How will we get it to work again?" Vivian asks. Rosalina looks at her. "Well… you will need to charge it back with dark magic. This Crystal Sun still has all of its light magic intact, so there is no need for me to charge it with light magic. However, the dark magic is where it becomes an issue. I will look for a way to do so. In the meantime, rest in the observatory. Train if you like. It will take me four days at the very least to do so." She says.

'Four days is a long time from now…' Mario thinks to himself. 'Maybe we'll be able to wait that long. Some of us could use that training we got.' He then looks up to Rosalina and smiles. "Yeah. We'll stay here. You can count on us." Mario agrees.

"YAAAY!" Adelenn smiles. "I'm gonna go play with Mommy and Geno and Link and everyone else! TO THE BEDROOMS!" She then speedily grabs her mother's arm, and flies directly to the Bedroom Dome. "Wait, Adelenn! What are you doing?" She asks frantically.

"Jara said she wanted to play…" Adelenn whispers. "She's the Demon Lord with the pink hair. She says she's six-hundred sixty-six years old!" Marvisshla was confused. "Play? What does she want to play?" She says in a soothing tone.

"I wanna play a little game called 'House.' And I know who I want to be my teammate… Heehee!" Jaraberutzu smiles mischievously, walking up to Link in an attractive way, stroking his chin with her left hand. Surprisingly, Link did not react at all. He was half-asleep! "Don't worry. I won't be too rough on you."

"NO WAY!" Screams Patricia before slapping Jaraberutzu AND Link with her right hand.

"Ow…" They both rub their faces.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN END.


	29. 28: Frosted Glacier

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Frosted Glacier

Four days have passed since Day Four of Month Twink. Four days can accomplish many things in the Grand Rose. Here are these accomplishments:

On all four days, each of the heroes trained immensely as Rosalina was still helping them find a way to restore the dark energy of the Crystal Sun. They were pushing themselves to the test. Lupo and Vivian became increasingly skilled in the arts of fighting, and Soulola learned how to follow the commands of Link in case he needed help fighting. RAWR also learned how to take commands from Adelenn (She also learned how to give out those commands, as well). All ten of the heroes learned the ability to move so fast that it seems as though they teleport, but some of their speeds surpass teleportation. Prior to that, only a few knew how to do it, including Link, Rosalina, and a handful of other martial arts masters. This technique is known as "Shift."

Later on, Mario's birthday passes on Day 6 of Month Twink. The heroes, along with Marvisshla and Rosalina, celebrate his birthday with delicious foods such as cake, succulent meats like ribs and steak, and even some sodas, as well. Mario would become 25 years of age on this day.

The following day, Day 7 of Month Twink, was Link's supposed date of birth. He would officially become the age of a man; age 18. Like Mario, they celebrate with usual festivities such as food and drink. Link was a little bit disappointed that day, however. He was getting older. He wanted to stay a little bit younger so that life would be more entertaining for him. On the bright side, he was becoming wiser, and could do more things that he wasn't able to before (legally, of course).

The story continues from here…

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 8

Mario was asleep in his bed again. These days, he was always the last to wake up. "Oooh, Mama Mia. How long did I sleep for THIS time?" He groans, scratching his head while looking for the time. It was decently early for waking up. It was 10:00 in the morning. The Grand Rose was looking beautiful today. The birds were outside and the sun was shining brilliantly. It was a good day for adventure like no other.

He checks outside of the Bedroom to see literally everyone resting in the grass of the Observatory. Rosalina was nearby, sitting on a desk as she works on the Crystal Sun. Her face was fixed to a serious expression. She was hard at work, and she looked as if she was nearly done with what she was doing. Mario sighs in relief. He sees that everyone is fine and well, and it gives him a sense of relaxation.

Mario puts on his red cap, shirt and overalls. He puts his gloves on last before heading outside to say hello to his friends. "'Ello!" He smiles, waving at the heroes. They wave back at him.

Link was drinking some Lon Lon Milk that was saved in the Kitchen. He was exhausted from training so vigorously that he drank milk for an hour. Everyone else was just taking in the sun, even Vivian. They were patiently waiting for Rosalina to finish her work.

Adelenn was talking to Marvisshla, and getting to know her better. "So, they fed me this oatmeal stuff when I was in slavery, and it tasted icky!" Adelenn says in disgust, sticking her tongue out while making Marvisshla laugh. "Hehehe. I always thought oatmeal tasted fantastic. Your father absolutely hated it! I guess I know what side of the family YOU come from!" She states, thinking about oatmeal.

Mario notices that the ground around them has been sucked dry of energy. He knows it's from Adelenn, but he doesn't understand why it happens in the first place. "Hmmm… so weird…" He rubs his mustache.

"It's because she's one of the deadliest types of Demon Queens out there." Geno says, putting his arm on Mario's shoulder. He takes the hint and gives him a pound. "There are several different types of Demon Queens. There are eight types of Demon Queen that are considered the most dangerous. Gaian Gutter, Ocean Wave, Golden Ray, Rockslide Rampage, Dragon Mail, Blackened Blaze, Poison Splash and Glacier Skew. The three most dangerous are the Golden Ray, Blackened Blaze, and Gaian Gutter Demon Queens." He pauses for a moment to catch his breath.

"The Golden Ray Demon Queen, which Marvisshla is, has the ability to use light and light-based magic in various ways. Any sun is such a key weapon to a Demon Queen like the Golden Ray. This is considered the third of the strongest, as it is unfortunately the softest of the three. It doesn't pack as much of a punch as the others." He explains. Mario opens his eyes. "Wow… That's intense." He says.

"The second deadliest is the Gaian Gutter Demon Queen." Geno continues. "Gaian Gutters have absolute control of the environment. Plants, inanimate objects, suns, entire planets… even some animals can be controlled limitlessly by the Gaian Gutter. I think one such Demon Queen was the main reason why Demons can't reproduce as often as they like… but I learned quickly that this type of Demon Queen would've been the absolute strongest if it were not for the deadliest of them all…"

"Blackened Blaze." Jaraberutzu whispers, standing tall right behind both of them. They both become startled by this, and Mario's skin jumps (Geno doesn't have skin, he's controlling a wooden puppet). "Whoa… scared me there." Geno sighs. Jaraberutzu giggles. "I can't be with Mr. Hot-Stuff over there, so I just decided to see you guys." She says, looking at Link. "Now, about the Blackened Blaze Demon Queen…"

"You've noticed how she can suck the life out of things with her new power subconsciously, regenerate, and is invulnerable to Fire and Electricity, right? Well, here's the thing… She's not supposed to be able to do ANY of that. Even in that new form of hers. The Blackened Blaze is known to be highly resistant to most forms of magic, especially fire. However, due to the immense power of Adelenn already accomplished before that, she's progressed further. She is completely invulnerable to fire and electricity. She cannot become exhausted. She cannot lose her magic. She cannot lose her mana, energy or aura, and there's no way to change that. It's all part of her nature." Jaraberutzu explains.

"She was already as strong as a Demon Queen the moment we met her." Mario gulps due to his realization. "Wow… we really are becoming stronger."

"I'VE GOT IT!" Rosalina's voice booms in pride and accomplishment, rumbling the very ground so immensely that it caused some of the heroes to fall over. "HOLY Hammer Bros. from 5-2. That was a Magnitude 10." Patricia growls, with Link laughing at her. "Haha! THAT caused you to fall!? That was hardly even anything!"

With this commotion, everyone wanted to know what was going on. They all gather around Rosalina, and look into the dull Crystal Sun. "What happened, Lady Rosalina?" Mario asks the goddess. "I had miscalculated something. Deathstone was not the cause of the disruption. It was Soulrock, which is essentially the same planet in a universe that is close by. Merlon had informed me about it this morning." Rosalina explains.

Mario has seen Merlon before. Merlon was a magician in Flipside, a realm where hidden doors led to all of the other existing realms, also known as the other universes. At first, only a few were made. Now, billions of them exist, all waiting for someone to enter them.

"That's interesting. Your assumptions are almost never wrong." Geno wonders. "It may be because of how fragile and strangely unique this version of Kaicho was. I was not able to pick it up very well, and the connection was rearranged once I picked it up. This was not done by anyone, however. A simple mix-up."

Marvisshla was somewhat relieved. "That's swell… now we don't have a bone to pick with anyone." She smiles. This makes Adelenn smile as well. "Yeah! We're all good!" She states, throwing up her hand for a sign of victory.

However, the heroes were still stuck on finding a way to restore the Crystal Sun. "So what do we do now? That Crystal Sun isn't gonna fix itself." Link sighs, resting his head on his hand. Rosalina smiles. "Simple, my dear." She starts. This makes Link nervous. 'Oh PLEASE don't do anything reckless this time.' He thinks carefully.

"All you have to do is use Kaicho." She says. "…Wait, that's it?" Link asks. "Cool. This might be easier than we thought." Mario smiles.

"On the Dark Moon." Rosalina finishes.

"DARN IT!" Link shouts angrily, throwing his hat into the ground.

The Dark Moon is a dangerous object. Like a Full Moon, the Dark Moon comes out once a month. However, the Dark Moon randomly comes out once during that month. There is no specific way to tell when it comes out. It is dangerous enough to awaken ghosts other than Boos, and any under its influence will run amuck for about a day or so. Luigi once had to repair the Dark Moon so that King Boo would stop messing around with the people in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"The Dark Moon?!" Vivian was shocked. "The Dark Moon shouldn't be tampered with! Using Kaicho on the Dark Moon would cause a really BAD disturbance in the flow of nature! Rosalina, are you SURE we should be doing this?" The Pokémon agree with Vivian. "Rawr Rawr! Rwwr!" RAWR growls softly. "Sooool." Soulola whimpers, hugging Link tightly with her sharp claws. "Everything's okay, Soulola. Don't worry about it, cutie!" He says, throwing her up in the air and occupying her with laughter.

Rosalina giggles this time. "Hmmhmm… Vivian, I must say… you are indeed correct about that. Using Kaicho on the Dark Moon is very risky. However, I said nothing about using it on the main source of the Dark Moon. Lupo, I suppose you know what I speak of?" Rosalina calmly asks. Lupo nods.

"Yep. Here's the thing, guys." She huddles up closely to the table, and everyone else does the same. "So, I've been researching caves along with doing construction. It turns out that some chunks of the Dark Moon fell during some key excavation centers. Two of these crash sites are still in use. If we go there, we'd be in big trouble since we're considered outlaws by Princess Peach. There is a third one, but it's gonna be treacherous. It's in 5-2."

Mario jumps up in excitement. "WORLD 5-2!?" He shouts. He's been to World 5-2 before. It was cold, dank and misty. Hammer Bros. were everywhere during the daytime. They would release these hammers and throw them at him. It was a treacherous land, and Mario learned patience and timing in that world.

Rosalina smiles. "Mario. From the look on your face, you seem to have been there before. You are well prepared for this small journey." She says. "As for the rest of you, you must be careful. It was not like the last time where enemies were weak enough to simply jump on. Bowser, along with his army, have gotten stronger. Don't underestimate them."

"Got it." Link smiles. "Soool!" Soulola says at the same time, licking Link's face. "This is going to be interesting. We're going back into Mario's roots." Geno smiles. "Ya think, lightweight!? This is my little cousin we're talking about!" Lupo pats his back. "YAAY! NES days, here we come!" Adelenn loudly states.

"HOWEVER," Rosalina begins again. "Since you have just met with Marvisshla, I suggest that you take her along with you. It would be nice for you to know her some more. Does anyone disagree?"

"MOMMY!" Adelenn squeals, tackling her mother and squeezing her tightly. "Oh, my! I never thought I'd be attacked so suddenly by my daughter." Marvisshla laughs heartily with everyone else.

Vivian takes out the Magical Map to see the Mushroom Kingdom. So, where IS World 5-2? I've never been there before." Vivian asks with a confused expression. Mario gently takes the map from her and points. He points at a land that's been nearly frozen over. It's right next to Princess Peach's Castle, and to the left of it.

"This is Frosted Glacier. We can travel there by car, but-"

Suddenly, Rosalina causes yet another Magnitude 10 Earthquake when she hears this. "Excuse me?" She growls. Mario's eyes open wide, and he looks back at Vivian with a nervous expression. "…Lady Rosalina despises cars. The last time she saw a car, she blew it up by looking at it."

"You eleven may still use the car in the back. I simply despise them with a burning passion." Rosalina says, trying to keep calm. Mario then sighs with relief. "Alright, who knows how to drive?" He asks everyone.

Only Patricia and Link raise their hand. "…Oh. That's right. Not many people use cars in the Grand Rose. That's all on Earth." Mario says, disappointed. "Oh, well. I guess I'll drive. I'm one of the more careful ones at it, anyway."

"I can drive too, Mario." Link excitedly states. "You don't have a driver's license." Mario grumbles. "BUT WE'RE ALREADY OUTLAWS!" Link shouts, frowning. "You're such a kid, Link." Patricia sighs.

LATER THAT DAY…

All eleven of the heroes were inside of a giant yellow car. They were driving down a brick road that supposedly led to the Frosted Glacier. Somehow, it fit all eleven of them, for it was the size of a small pickup truck. "…Cozy. Even though I'm hitting the roof every now and then." Marvisshla whispers in the front of the truck. She looks back to see her daughter sticking her head out the window. "YAAAAY!" Adelenn screams with joy. She's never been inside of a car, and it excited her very much.

"…Who would've known that my baby girl would become the Demon Queen? She's such a sweetheart, and doesn't seem to bother with any formalities… A little girl at the heart, a Queen in the flesh…

"And a Warrior in the spirit." She says. Lupo smiles. "Well, she certainly does have the qualities of each of them. Especially with how pretty she is! I get a little jealous sometimes!" She says. Marvisshla couldn't help but laugh. "Haha, she is! She's like a little angel from the great sky."

"With a smokin' hot bod." Link adds.

"SHUT IT, YOU." Patricia swings a fist at his face. "Anyway, how come she's such a sweetheart, anyway? Aren't Demons supposed to be more aggressive?" Patricia asks, looking at Geno. He shrugs. "I dunno. It's a mystery." He says.

"Well… I kinda suffer from the same problem she does, except it didn't mess with my intelligence." Marvisshla explains. "See, I was not like other Demons when I was growing up. When most Demon Children would probably steal each other's food and such, I would give someone food if they needed it or asked for it. I was born like this, and I was sweet and kind as well. So, I'm actually a bit glad that she bears the same mental illness. She'll have to grow up someday, though."

The car falls silent for a moment, except for Adelenn, who was still screaming her lungs out. "So what about Adelenn's quick regeneration? I've never seen it happen before!" Link asks, breaking the silence. "Sol!" Soulola was also interested because Link was interested.

"I was the one who developed it. Nobody else has regeneration as quick as I do. Even if you were to cut off all of my four limbs, my body would grow each of them back, and the pain would be gone. If Adelenn truly inherited this, then it may be the same, or even faster. When did she develop the regeneration?" She asks. "Right after advancing from being a Demon Child to a Demon. She grew her heart back when it was pierced." Geno answers.

Marvisshla pauses for a moment. "She developed it way earlier than I did. I was 40 when I received my wings, and I was 2,000 when I became Demon Queen." She wonders. "Adelenn became the Demon Queen the week after she became a grown Demon. She's only 25." Vivian adds.

"Interesting… She has a fast rate of growth… It must be in the family. Even I was growing fast for a Demon, but it pales in comparison to Adelenn." She puts her hand on her chin. "Her slave master certainly kept her in shape, but to go through such extensive training sounds improbable."

Adelenn picked up what Marvisshla says, and puts her head back in the car. "Heehee! Silly Mommy! Fuego wouldn't teach me anything 'cuz he thought I was weak! I just trained while he was asleep, and I became a whole bunch stronger! He also told me you abandoned me, and that was a giant LIE!" She growls.

"Yes. I'd think he would say something like that to put down your hopes. Only a truly evil person would separate mother and child. That's why I've been searching for you. So that we would be separated no longer."

Marvisshla then takes a long look at Geno, and back at Adelenn. For a moment, he was starting to get nervous, and not because of her Voided Eye. 'Why is she staring at me like that?' He wonders. She giggles. "Hmmhmm. I know that the Demon Lord Jaraberutzu is not your wife. You interact with her so little compared to Adelenn. You hang around Adelenn a lot as well." She says.

Following that, she gasps. "Wait a minute… Does that mean… you're in love with Adelenn!?" Marvisshla didn't know how to follow up with her own sentence, and neither did Geno. "N-N-N-MAYBE!?" He says in a panic. Marvisshla laughs. "HEEHEEHEE! You're in love with my daughter! How cute! Young Love is especially amusing!"

"How is it young love when I'm more than thirty-nine thousand years older than Adelenn?" Geno asks. Marvisshla stops laughing. "…Does that make you a child predato-"

"OF COURSE NOT!"

Mario speeds the car up a little bit. "Oh no oh no oh no OH NO." He growls angrily. Suddenly, the car increases in speed rapidly. "Eh? What's going on, Mario!?" Link asks, holding Soulola tightly. "You know that guy that keeps following us every now and then?" He asks. Link nods. "Yeah, that guy. What about him?"

"He's chasing us right now."

"BWAHAHAHAHA! TRY AND RUN AWAY FROM ME NOW, MARIO!" Roars a familiar voice.

Behind Mario's yellow car was a massive purple car, designed with yellow lines, and it came with cannons mounted at the front. It had a mean-looking face on the grill of the car, and for some reason, the entire car sparkles with neon colors. Attached to this car were spikes that were spikier than Bowser's hair.

…Did I forget to mention that Bowser was driving such a vehicle? I think I did.

"FIRE!" The large Koopa shouts loudly, slamming buttons on the two Banzai Bill Blasters. Each one shoots a massive Banzai Bill, and they lock in on Mario's car. Luckily, Mario was driving fast enough for them to not make contact with the car.

"Grrr… What do we do now? It's too dangerous for us to fight back, as one of us could be left behind by mistake!" Link says, pulling Adelenn back into the car. "I dunno! We better figure out something! We can't get sidetracked!" Mario growls, pumping more gas into the car.

"Hey, what's that?" Marvisshla asks, pointing in front of them. In the road, there were clear boxes that contained some sort of item. They couldn't tell what it is due to the large question mark blocking the way. "It's an Item Block! Mario, grab it quickly!" Geno stands up in his seat, urging his friend to move faster. "On it!" Mario smirks, speeding up.

He rams his vehicle right into the Item Block, and Mario receives a banana.

"…A Banana?" Marvisshla says, unimpressed. "OOOH! I'M HUNGRY!" Adelenn squeals, trying to eat the banana in Mario's hand. "No, Adelenn! This is for tossing out the window." Mario explains, looking back at Bowser while avoiding the onslaught of Banzai Bills. "Yeah, Adelenn. Don't eat Mario's long, tasty banana. He needs to save it for the princess." Jaraberutzu giggles. "SHUT UP, WOMAN! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A HEATED BATTLE!" Geno shouts.

Mario tosses the banana out of the window. He waits for Bowser to run right over it. "HA! I'VE GOT YOU ON THE ROPES NOW, PLUMBER! SAY GOODBYE T-"

Bowser's car slips right over the banana, and spins out of control. "WAAAH! What kind of NASTY trap is this!? I didn't think Item Blocks would be HERE!" Bowser's voice then begins to lose itself in the distance.

RAWR and Soulola laugh all the way through. "SO-SOOOOL! ABSOL!" Soulola squeaks. She then gives RAWR a high-five with her left paw. "Rawr!" RAWR barks happily. They think that with this, they could get away safely. There seems like no way Bowser could catch up with them.

"Oh, no you DON'T! I'm not letting the likes of you escape from me!" Bowser roars, creating a Magnitude 7 Earthquake as he does so. Link is completely alert of this. "Watch out, guys. He's coming this way!

Soon, Bowser starts shooting even more Banzai Bills at their car. Each Banzai Bill causes an explosion that makes a crater in the road. Mario carefully turns around these to not end up hitting a pothole. "DON'T RUN AWAY FROM ME, MARIO! FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!" Bowser roars, speeding up fast enough so that he places in front of the heroes.

This time, instead of swiveling the Banzai Bill Blasters around, Bowser decides to throw explosive soccer balls at the heroes to be used as a smokescreen. "Whoa!" Mario shouts, trying to fan away the smoke. Meanwhile, he grabs another Item Block by running over it. "Well, he certainly has the balls to face us." Jaraberutzu snickers quietly.

"What did you get?" Link shouts over the sound of the explosions. Mario merely smirks. "Our ticket outta here." He says.

In his hand was a blue shell. It had wings on it, and was as spiky as a Spiny. It was ready to soar into the sky. "Hold the phone! You're gonna use THAT!?" Vivian gasps in horror. "That Spiny Shell is going to wipe out Bowser's car! DO IT NOW!" Link shouts. "No, don't do it! You might get us in the blast, too!" Vivian shouts back.

"DO IT!"

"DON'T DO IT!"

Mario couldn't handle it anymore, and releases the Spiny Shell. When he does, it soars gracefully into the sky, and makes a beeline straight for Bowser's snazzy car. "Heehee! That's sure to get him!" Mario smirks.

However, when the smoke clears, he was thoroughly disappointed.

He was right next to Bowser when he threw the Spiny Shell. "OH, COME ON!" Mario slams his hand on the wheel. "Can't handle the heat, little man!? I'm gonna make sure I plant your face into the ground! Prepare yo-"

He then takes notice of the Spiny Shell that is advancing towards him. With this, he drops both Soccer balls, and looks at it with a deathly glare. "…I hate you, Mario." He mutters.

The Spiny Shell makes contact with Bowser's car, and a massive, blue explosion occurs. The sheer ferocity of the blast was enough to make the heroes squeeze their eyes shut. "MAMA MIAAAAAAA!" Mario shouts. "UWAAAAAAAAH!" Everyone else screams, getting caught in the blast as well.

A MINUTE OR SO LATER…

There was a lot of debris and rubble covering the area in which the Spiny Shell landed. Both cars were completely destroyed in the impact. There was silence, for the heroes were trying to lay low.

That is, until Link completely pulverizes the debris on top of him. With one punch, he was able to remove the giant rocks off of his body. "ACHOO!" He sneezes. Link is mildly allergic to dust. "Excuse me."

"YOU FOOL!" Patricia growls, removing all of the rocks from her own body, and tackling Link with his back turned. The end result was a very greasy, shiny Patricia on top of a calm, collected Link. "You let us get hit with that!? You're a jerk!" She shouts, smacking him with the back of her hand. He just laughs. "Simmer down, Patricia. All that stress is going to end up as fuel for your chest. Or was it the Donuts-"

"IT WAS THE DONUTS, YOU!" Patricia delivers another backhand. "Wait, where's Soulola? SOULOLA! WHERE ARE YOU, BABY GIRL!?" Link shouts aloud, seeing if Soulola would respond. Patricia gasps. "You're right! Where did Soulola go? Did she slip out of your bag?" She asks. Link checks the bag to find nothing. "Uh oh." Link says.

"AB-SOL!"

A strike of lightning approaches a pile of stalagmites next to Link. It crashes down with immense force, causing the stalagmites to break easily. Within lies Soulola, as she was just finishing up using Thunder, a powerful electrical attack. Immediately afterwards, she looks for Link. "Sol?" She asks herself, scanning the area for Link. She turns around to find Link a few feet behind her, and leaps immediately. "ABSOOOL!" She squeals. She pounces onto Link's chest, and starts bite-kissing him in the lip.

"Hey, baby girl! We missed you!" Link smiles, hugging Soulola tightly. "Soool!" She squeals, pointing at the rocks in the distance. Apparently, those were where the other heroes were, and they all broke out just as easily. "Whoa." Geno gasps for air, even though he doesn't need it.

On the other side was the true problem. Bowser was not injured by the attack OR covered in debris. In fact, he was standing up straight. "You guys are slow. I got that stuff off of me like THAT." He snaps his large, scaly fingers. Link laughs. "What a kidder. So, who do you wanna fight, Bowser? Your choice." Link says.

Bowser counts each of the fighters that he sees. Mario tells Adelenn to step back so that Bowser doesn't die due to her life-draining mana. "One, two… three… Hehe, there's nine of you. How cute." Bowser says, laughing at the fact that there are only nine humanoids that he is able to fight. "I could take all of you down with a glare. This fight is meaningless at this point."

"Oh, uh, hey. Bowser." Link had already used Shift to place himself right onto Bowser's shoulder without anyone noticing. "You see, there are two Pokémon there as well, and they know how to fight. One is RAWR, and the other is my baby girl Soulola. Animals can fight too, ya know." He smirks before dodging a lethal attack from Bowser.

"Quit toying with me, punk! How'd you move so fast?" He asks. Link shrugs. "What do you mean? I've always been able to move this fast. Maybe you're just getting slower." He replies. "GRRRR! THAT'S A LOAD OF GARBAGE! I'VE NEVER SEEN YOU MOVE THAT FAST IN MY LIFE!" He roars, swiping at Link a second time. Link simply parries it with his finger. "See, this is why I handicap myself even when Master Hand sets up a handicap. I'll end up being an SS Tier, and I wouldn't really get much time with my friends and that lovely grease machine over there." Link states. "So, if you would please choose someone to fight rather than lash out at someone, it'd be nice."

"…That must be why there's never been an SS Tier Smash fighter." Mario wonders in monotone. His voice then springs back to life. "Link would be the first SS Tier if he allowed himself to ever go at full power. He's such a monster when it comes to fighting that he would purposely bring himself DOWN."

"Grrrrrrr! Fine! I choose YOU, AND WHOEVER ELSE YOU WANT TO FIGHT ME WITH! Bring it on, tiny!" Bowser roars, and Link allows him to punch his face. It was ineffective in even moving Link, even though the attack sent large boulders flying everywhere.

"Seriously, Bowser. How do you expect to beat me if you're not going to get serious yourself? Come on, I know you can do better than that!" Link shouts. He hasn't even begun to reach for the Master Sword.

Nearly everyone's heart sank when they saw Link take that hit like it was nothing. However, they were more upset that Link was taking his sweet time. "Link, we have a place to be! Wrap this up, please!" Mario asks kindly. Link shakes his head.

"Not yet. I wanna check something first." Link smiles, and takes a look at Soulola. "Soulolaaaa! Baby Girl! Why don't you have your first real battle?" He calls, cupping his hands to make sure she was listening.

"You're making a baby Pokémon fight? I'm a bit suspicious about this choice." Marvisshla says, holding her mace and scimitar in her hands. Link turns around to explain. "See, that's what I thought as well, but it turns out that Soulola also wants to try her hand at a battle. She's been fending for herself for about a month by taking on massive Pokémon. She says she's even taken down a Garchomp. Technically, I'm not making her fight." He says.

"I'm just giving her the OK."

Soulola jumps directly in front of the deadly Koopa King. She growls a little bit. "Sooool. Absol." She says, her teeth clenched together. Somehow, she musters up the courage to fight against Bowser, who towers over her by an amazing fourteen feet.

"BWAHAHA! YOU think you can stop ME with such a puny and pathetic-looking Pokémon? I DARE you to!" Bowser laughs, rumbling the ground. Link does not react at all. Instead, he looks at Soulola, who looks right back at him. "Sol?" Soulola asks.

"Yeah, you can use Volt Tackle. Go right ahead." Link smiles. "ABSOL!" Soulola barks, immediately facing Bowser. Everyone else Shifts out of the way. "Huh? What did you say it was gonna use on m-"

Suddenly, Soulola rams into Bowser with immense electricity and power. It was so strong that it caused Bowser to throw up some spit. 'Ugh… I think that was my lunch.' Bowser thinks to himself. "ULP! HERE IT COMES!"

Chapter Twenty-Eight End… Ew…


	30. 29: Plans

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Plans

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 8

Soulola's powerful attack was finished, and Bowser was lying on the ground, and some spit was covering his mouth (for some unknown reason). Almost immediately, however, he gets back up to look at Soulola. "Soooool!" She growls quietly. She quickly takes a look behind her to see if Link was still there, and he was. She was happy that Link was there, and it gives her energy to fight.

"Whoa, this little thing can pack a punch. When I'm done with it, she's gonna be my new minion! BWAHAHA!" Bowser's voice shakes the snow on the ground. The battlefield was the middle of the road, which was wide and barren. Link scrunches his eyebrows, giving Bowser an angry expression. "Oh, no you don't! Soulola is my friend; you can't just take her away from me like that!" He states, which induces more laughter into Bowser. "Save it, pipsqueak. This is MY Pokémon now, and there's nothing you can do!" Bowser replies.

"Absol?" Soulola asks Link. He extends his arm outward, and points at Bowser with a smirk. "Soulola, tear him up with Fire Fang!" He shouts. Soulola picks up the words, "Fire Fang" and immediately knows what to do. "Sol!" She nods, charging at Bowser.

Although she was not as fast as the other heroes, she was fast enough to make Bowser lose sight of her. She starts running around Bowser in a circle several times in a row, and when she feels the need to, she jumps up into the air. "Huh!? Where'd it go?" Bowser looks around, not able to find Soulola.

Soulola then comes crashing down on Bowser with her fangs enveloped in fire. At the very last second, she sinks her fangs right into Bowser's arm. Usually, fire would not harm Bowser so much, but it was about as hot as lava. "YEEOWTCH!" Bowser shouts aloud, shaking Soulola off of his arm.

"You're an annoying little pest, aren't you? I'm gonna make sure you know your place!" He roars into the sky. He charges right at Soulola with an immense speed, but Soulola jumps out of the way as quickly as possible. Bowser swivels around to deliver a nasty swipe of his claws, but realizes that he's not fighting someone as tall as Mario. "Darn, that was a stupid mistake." He mutters to himself.

Soulola was ready to fight again, but was unsure on what to do. Bowser had so many openings that it confused her. "Sooool…" She whispers, looking at Bowser's openings. She was in a slight daze. This gave Bowser the opportunity to jump into the air and drive his entire body onto Soulola. The power of this attack causes the road to splinter, and it makes an enormous crater.

"BABY GIRL!" Link shouts in concern. Almost immediately, Mario, Geno, Adelenn, Jaraberutzu and Patricia were holding him down. "Don't! Remember what happened the last time you went berserk!?" Mario says. Link nods, but still tries to escape. "But that's Soulola! She's only two months old! I can't let her be abused like that! Somebody tag in for her!" He shouts. "BWAHAHAHA! You feeling a little bit better now, punk! Your Pokémon's gonna be a pancake soo-"

"SOL!" Soulola's muffled voice shouts. Everyone turns around to see Bowser in the ground, but then beginning to slowly rise. "Whuh!? What's going on!? I thought I squished you!" He shouts loudly, but it proved to be ineffective. Soulola was carrying Bowser on her entire back with ease, and throws him off with little effort. He lands into the cold, hard ground with his shell and creates a crater upon impact.

"Ow…" Bowser mumbles. He gets back up again. "What kind of training did this thing get? It's pretty tough. That's why it's gonna be MY minion once I'm through with it."

Adelenn giggles a little bit. "Bowser really thinks he can win against Soulola! Heehee! Bowser's funny!" She says happily. Bowser growls at her. "SHUT UP, WOMAN! You might as well be a cow that moos constantly!" He shouts. "But… Cows are supposed to go 'moo' and they also give us milk! Don't you like milk!? Everyone should like milk!" Adelenn protests. "GRRR, I SHOULD JUST PUNCH YOU!" He roars, charging at Adelenn with his top speed. He then extends his arm to punch her.

Adelenn takes her index finger and holds it right in front of her. It was enough to stop Bowser completely in his tracks. "Silly Bowser! You're not fighting me! You're fighting Soulola!" She smiles, lazily throwing him right back on the icy road with Soulola.

'She's even more powerful than the last time!? When did that happen?' Bowser thinks to himself. He notices that all of the heroes were stronger themselves. He also notices Marvisshla, who resembles Adelenn a lot. "Hey, who's the other chick? She looks a lot like Ginger over there. Do they both not have souls? Hehe." Bowser chuckles.

Adelenn immediately goes on the defensive. "That's my Mommy! Don't go saying bad things about her! That's nice nice, Mr. Koopa King." She then gasps. "Wait, you're a king… and I'm a Queen… hmm… OHHH! This is a battle for land, isn't it!? That's why you're attacking us! You want my land! But I share the land with EVERYBODY!" She yells at him loudly, causing a Magnitude 8 Earthquake. Her mana was also heavy on the heroes.

"Calm down, Adelenn. Everything's fine." Lupo says quietly. Vivian nods. "Yeah, we can't have you getting all worked up because you're a Demon Queen fighting a Koopa King!" She agrees.

"But it makes sense, right?" Adelenn asks. Everyone nods. "…I guess so. Now that leads me to ask. What do you want with us?" Patricia asks Bowser. Bowser chuckles. "I just wanna beat the living snot outta Mario, but YOU GUYS keep getting in the way. And I've got names for all of you!" He replies, pointing at everyone but Mario.

"Puppet, Magic Girl, Tomboy, Ginger, Elf-in-tights, Robocop, Pinkie, Fire-Dog, Snowflake, and Goldilocks. All of you are stupid idiots, so I gave you nicknames." Bowser puts his hands on his hips, bellowing with laughter.

"HEY! I'M NOT AN ELF! I'M NOT WEARING TIGHTS, EITHER! THESE ARE PANTS!" Link shouts at the Koopa King, pulling at his pants. Mario didn't notice that he changed out of tights and into brown, baggy pants. "Hey, I kinda like 'Robocop' as a nickname. Patricia 'Robocop' Wagon… it has a nice ring to it." Patricia smirks. "Why am I Adelenn "Ginger" Boskra? What's a ginger anyway? Sounds like a type of food." Adelenn's stomach growls of hunger. "Goldilocks? My hair isn't even yellow." Marvisshla says, looking at her gorgeous black hair with a frown. "Hehe, Pinkie." Jaraberutzu looks at her hair.

"Sol." Soulola taps Bowser on the foot so that he could pay attention to the fight. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. You wanna fight me still, huh? Well then… EAT SOME FOOT!" Bowser roars again, stomping on the ground in an attempt to strike Soulola. She jumps out of the way before it could happen.

Soulola growls, and looks back at Link. "Absol!" Soulola barks, demanding another command from Link. He nods clearly. "Slice n' dice with Night Slash!" Link commands. Soulola takes out her claws, and begins to swipe at Bowser's legs. Each swipe is followed by a trail of darkness, and follows her as she attacks.

Bowser was stepping back so that he wouldn't be attacked. "Oh, this is really stupid! I'm dodging a puny Pokémon? It's pathetic!" He says to himself. He jumps up in the air again to try and Ground Pound Soulola another time, but Soulola steps out of the way.

Suddenly, she was attacked with a ferocious flame from behind, and it sends her to the floor. "Sol!" She yelps, trying to get back up.

Everyone was shocked. Nobody knew how Soulola was attacked from behind when Bowser was in the middle of an attack himself. "How!? When!?" Lupo says. "RAAAAWR! RWWRRRR!" RAWR growls ferociously, pointing at the culprit.

It was another Bowser.

Mario's muscles tense up when he sees this. "…Double Cherry." He mutters. The Double Cherry is a large cherry with eyes. When one eats it, they gain a clone of themselves. These clones are easy to take out, but possess the same amount of attacking power as the real user. Eating more cherries creates more clones.

Link was furious at this point. "That dirty cheater!" Link grits his teeth. "Jara! Mario! Go in there and help Baby Girl!" Link commands, pointing at Soulola. Both of them nod seriously. "Okeydokey!" Mario states. "Anything for you, honey!" Jaraberutzu blushes. They both Shift into the battlefield. Jara quickly Shifts Soulola out of the field, and into Patricia's hands. She Shifts back at Mario's side, and takes out her Kusarigama.

"Deal with the clones." Mario commands. "I'll deal with the main body." Jaraberutzu nods, as more Bowser clones appear from the sides. "Hey, you might get cut!" Jaraberutzu smiles as she mows down a whole bunch of Bowser clones with her sickles. They all disappear with a puff of smoke.

Another patch of clones attack Jaraberutzu with fire, but she jumps out of the way, and swings horizontally to get rid of all of them. "This guy expects to use these wimps to fight us? Please!" She says, referring to the Double Cherry Clones.

Meanwhile, Mario is putting Bowser on the defensive; punching, kicking and even throwing Bowser rapidly. He doesn't want to give Bowser any chance of hurting someone else. Then, Mario uppercuts Bowser and backflips away. He was going to use a Crystal Sun.

"Sunny Day!" Mario shouts, and holds up the Red Crystal Sun that Adelenn gave him a while ago. The Crystal Sun flashes a bright red color, and makes a spotlight around Mario himself.

Suddenly, Mario feels a lot stronger, and he feels much better, as well. "Ooooh, that pain in my neck went away… that's nice." Mario smirks. He cracks his knuckles, and charges right for Bowser.

With one swift punch, Mario smashes his arm into Bowser, and sends gusts of wind flying everywhere. The punch smacked the daylight out of Bowser's eyes, and he drops to the floor once more. "UGH! Not again!" He covers his mouth, about to hurl again. However, it was neither Mario nor Jaraberutzu who lands the final blow against Bowser.

It was Soulola, and she uses one of the most powerful moves a Pokemon can learn.

Judgement. "SOL!" Soulola barks loudly into the air, grabbing the attention of all of the heroes. "Whoa! What's she doing?" Vivian asks abruptly. "Uh oh!" Mario shouts.

Suddenly, a flash of light surrounds Soulola, and makes a black circle above her. It grows increasingly bigger until it comes to a halt. When it finishes expanding, it follows the True Bowser, and floats right to him.

"H-hey! What's this circle thing!? It's all shiny and stuff!" Bowser wonders, distracted by Judgement. He was backing up a little as it flies toward him.

Then, he touches the black circle.

An explosion like no other occurs in that same instant. It was so bright that even Rosalina could see it from the observatory. "That was from 200 miles away. An impressive blast… Judgement is an attack not to be reckoned with head-on. Arceus is usually the one to possess that power, but he's not around… the only other Pokémon powerful enough to strike with that much force…" She pauses for a second.

"…Is Soulola the Megargantuan Absol."

The entire battlefield around them turned into a giant wasteland. The land was even more barren and cracked than it originally was. Soulola had attacked with enough force to level a continent, but controlled it to hit a single point, which was Bowser.

Bowser merely fainted. Did you really think he would die from that? Silly mortals.

Everyone fell silent. Soulola, a tiny baby Mega-Absol, was able to use an attack that only Arceus could handle. There were no other words to describe it but as…

"Outstanding." Marvisshla states, stashing her weapons into their dimensional pocket. She smiles and looks at Link. "So that's your Pokémon? She's strong and healthy, just like her trainer." She says, patting Link in the head.

"Nah, I'm not a trainer." Link shakes his head in denial. "I'm not the type to command another living thing to do as I please… That's just an immature misconception that people have of a person with a companion. I believe… I'm just Soulola's friend, and I hope it stays that way for as long as possible." Link smiles, picking up the tired Soulola. "You earned yourself some rest, Baby Girl." He says to Soulola, nuzzling his nose into her belly. "Sooool." She yawns quietly before falling asleep in Link's bag.

Geno then kicks Bowser's leg. "Hey, what do we do with him? He's out cold." He says, suddenly doodling on Bowser's face, drawing a false moustache and beard. "Yo, don't do that!" Patricia whispers, punching him in the head while trying not to wake up Bowser.

"Say…" Vivian looks around the place that they were stranded in. "It got cold all of a sudden… and the snow is already frozen into ice… where are we?" Everyone takes a look around them and notices the same thing. Everything was frozen and covered with white snow. Snow was falling heavily without any apparent end. There was still a lot of vegetation and trees, meaning that this place was not completely barren.

When Link realizes this on his own, he decides to pull out a giant blanket from his Adventure Pouch, and place it on top of the enormous Bowser. Mario was confused. "…Link?" He asks. "Why are you putting a blanket on top of Bowser? And why'd you even bother tucking him in?"

"He's a person, like you or me. I don't think he should stay here either, but taking him to a hospital would just tarnish his pride, so I'll do my best to respect that. Might as well do something for him, though." Link replies. He then slips a pillow under Bowser, and places food right next to him. "Hopefully he won't get too cold." Link says.

"…That's Link, alright." Patricia smiles. "Always looking for trouble, and always looking for an excuse to help someone else. He REALLY puts his friends before himself at any time. I bet he'd lose his mind if he saw one of us suffer." She looks down at her feet, and back to Mario. "Don't you think he's a cool guy?"

"Well… yeah. He's one of the first friends I made in the Super Smash Bros. Observatory. He's a pretty cool guy once you get to know him, but for some reason, he brings a bad vibe to others… I dunno if it's because he looks different, or what." Mario states.

"Hey, Mario!" Link shouts from the distance. "Yeah?" Mario replies. "Is this the Frosted Glacier that you were talking about? The weather suddenly changed upon arrival and it seems like it would be the temperature and weather for a summit."

"Yep… this is Frosted Glacier." Mario answers. Frosted Glacier is a summit, but with plenty of wildlife and vegetation. It's actually quite easy to live here, despite the freezing temperatures. Link once had to travel to an unknown summit as a training request by Rosalina, and it looked like this place.

"Hmmm, yeah. I think I've been here before. Rosalina and I stood in a shack that was warm and cozy. We would hunt in the day, and in the night, we'd eat some fresh game and drink some Space Cow Milk… or whatever milk it was. It was the good stuff." He smiles, thinking about drinking the unknown Space Cow Milk.

Adelenn was eating the snow as they look around. "Mmmm, tastes like ice cream! Except tastier!" Adelenn giggles happily, eating even more snow. "Baby, don't eat that snow! You don't know what's in it!" Marvisshla worriedly states, but catches Link doing the same thing. "Huh, it does taste like ice cream." Link concludes, chewing on the snow some more. "Link, please don't encourage her…" Marvisshla frowns. He stops immediately. "Sorry. I was just interested in what Adelenn was tasting. I'm a food person, just like her." He rubs his stomach, hoping he could eat some food.

"Frosted Glacier has the tastiest snow in this universe. Not so sure about the other ones." Mario says. "It's quite normal for people to eat it once they've gotten a lick of it." Adelenn starts collecting more snow, and places it all over her hair. The snow lights on fire before melting almost instantly. "Heeheehee! It melted!" She claps happily like a child.

RAWR was also investigating the snow, and his fiery mane melts any snow on him, and Adelenn's hair would do the same thing. Nobody was cold, but everyone felt the temperature drop at once. "So… where's that shack again, Link?" Jaraberutzu asks with a massive blush. "It's getting so chilly that my clothes are about to freeze off! Why don't you come over here and help me get warmer?"

She then begins to loosen her kimono around her shoulder, and Link Shifts to her side in order to prevent her from doing so. "Please don't do that." Link says rapidly, carefully readjusting her kimono back onto her shoulders. "The cabin's really close to here. We just gotta walk north for a few minutes and we'll be there." Jaraberutzu nods, and grabs his arm. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She giggles.

"Wait, what about the others-"

Suddenly, Jaraberutzu takes Link with her and Shifts all the way north, like Link said. Everyone gasps and looks around. "Do you think they went to the cabin?" Marvisshla asks Adelenn. She nods. "Yeah, I can hear a door opening over there." She points towards the north. "And now it closed. And now I hear a fire. And now I hear really aggressive kissing from Jara-"

"YOU CRAZY WOMAAAAN!" Link's voice shouts in the distance with a slight struggle to it. Patricia was fuming at this point. "That little minx is gonna get a fistful from yours truly!" Patricia growls, Shifting towards the north herself. Everyone else does the same.

Everyone stops Shifting once they spot a wooden cabin. It was stacked with logs and had a second layer of stone bricks. It was pretty fancy except for the part when rough sketches of Link and Rosalina were all over these stone bricks. It signifies that they own the cabin. "This looks like the cabin." Mario states, wondering how he never saw it during his adventures.

It was very large. Inside, Mario could see many sleeping bags. There was enough space to fit their once-pristine car into it. "Lots of space in here. Pretty nifty." He says.

Geno places his ear near the wall, and can hear the muffled voices of Link and Jaraberutzu. "Jara, this is the second time you did this to me in the public! Why are you doing this!?" Shouts a panicked Link. Geno hears the vibration of Link pulling out his Master Sword. "S-stay back!" He shouts again.

"C'mere, you! You're such a cutie when you pull out your big, LONG Master Sword! Come and show it to me here!" Jaraberutzu says with an attractive voice. "H-hey! Don't go making weird jokes around me! That's unladylike of you!" Link replies nervously.

Instantly, Geno falls to the floor and laughs hysterically. "OOOOOH! OOOOOHOOHOOHOO! I can't! I just can't take this anymore! HEHE!" Geno shouts, his sides hurting from laughter. "Heh, Pat! Why don't you… why don't you go and save Link from Jaraberutzu before it goes from bad to worse?" Geno tries to let out clearly, but ends up laughing anyway.

Patricia throws the wooden cabin's door open, and finds Jaraberutzu slowly approaching the armed Link with a casual smile and a nice blush. Vivian looks inside and snorts, thinking that the situation was funny. "GET OVER HERE!" Patricia shouts loudly, and grabs Jaraberutzu by the hair. "Owowowow OW! What's the big idea?" This only makes Patricia pull her hair even harder.

Patricia drags her towards the entrance of the door, and throws her out of the cabin. Jaraberutzu falls right into a patch of snow. "YOU'RE ON TIMEOUT FOR FIVE MINUTES! ALL OF YOU!" She roars, causing a Magnitude 7 Earthquake to rumble the area. She slams the door shut. Adelenn begins to cry. "Aww, but I didn't do anything! Waah!" She moans, her face reddening from sadness.

"…Wow." Mario states with a blank face, patting Adelenn's back to make her feel better. He then puts his ear to the wall, expecting a conflict from happening. However, he hears a pretty docile conversation between Link and Patricia. "Hey, you alright, hun?" Patricia asks, wiping Link's face of lipstick with a towel. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm not injured or anything." Link replies. "Good. Jaraberutzu always does that for some reason, I dunno why." She replies back.

Link then puts his hand on her greasy hair once more. "Whatever the case is, you're still my grease machine." He smiles. She smiles back. "I'm glad to hear that from you." Patricia replies, but notices how silent it gets outside. She thinks that someone is listening to their conversation. "Uhhh, quick, I gotta act violent again… what do I do?" She asks him.

"…I have an idea."

Mere seconds later, Link gets thrown out of the cabin himself by Patricia. "Ow…" Link says as he lands on the cold ground. Patricia walks out, ignores Link and looks at everyone else. "Get inside before you get sick out there. The fire's toasty."

Everyone says nothing and walks in at once except for Link, who was still on the ground. He gets up to see everyone walking inside. He's the last to step up to the door, and Patricia was about to close it, too.

"Wait, Patri-"

Suddenly, the door slams shut in his face. "STAY OUT!" Patricia roars from the other side of the door. Link frowns. "Awwwww." He says in disappointment. He then pulls out a pillow and blanket from his Adventure Pouch, and falls asleep right on the floor.

Patricia breathes heavily for a while, and holds the door shut. "Whew. Now, then… who wants some nice hot chocolate?" She asks everyone.

"Oooh! I do! I do!" Adelenn raises her hand up high, touching the ceiling. Surprisingly, it did not collapse. Only a dent was left in the logs. "But wait! What about Link?" Vivian immediately responds, looking out the window to see Link pretending to shiver. "You let him stay outside where he could get sick or attacked by a wild anim-"

"Look, Vivian. Link can bench press Bowser. What wild animal is gonna harm him? Cute little bunnies? When he's out there, HE'S the king of the jungle." Patricia interrupts her. Geno giggles a little bit. "King? More like a monster." He states. "But a monster with a giant heart." Marvisshla smiles.

"A monster nonetheless." Jaraberutzu smirks.

MINUTES LATER…

Everyone had a nice warm cup of hot chocolate (except for Link). The flavors were exquisite; the chocolate was nicely blended in, but the marshmallows completely changed the meaning of the hot chocolate. They were as soft as clouds while still being as wholesome as you can get. Everyone loved Patricia's hot chocolate.

However, there was an eleventh, untouched cup of hot chocolate. "Hey, who's that for?" Mario asks. Patricia smiles casually. "It's for Link, of course." She says. She takes the cup of hot chocolate and walks to the door. She then finds Link zoning out. "Yo." She growls. Link looks at her directly while scratching his head. "Yeah?" He asks.

Patricia spills the entire hot chocolate out of the cup and into Link's face. He was drizzled with hot chocolate. He says nothing. "Hope you like it." Patricia says with a face full of grimace and slams the door shut. He shows no other emotion but a blank face.

Everyone pauses at what Patricia's done, but say nothing in fear that she may strike. "Okay, Mario. What's the plan?"

"Well…" Mario begins by thinking for a moment. "We're on the right path. The stone road that we passed by leads directly to section 5-2. It's a half-hour walk, but we have to be careful with using Shift. As you guys know, Shift will cause a major distortion in the air around us by a two-mile radius. That can cause an avalanche, and we don't want that. We'll end up getting sent back towards the bottom of it and end up ALL the way in Sparkling Waters."

"Rawr." RAWR says, wondering what to do if such a case occurs. "If such an event happens, we might need some heavy fire magic. Who's profound in the arts of fire?" Marvisshla asks everyone.

Mario, Vivian, Adelenn, Geno, RAWR and Marvisshla herself raise their hands (or in RAWR's case, a paw). Soulola did not understand what they were talking about, but was skilled in the arts of fire herself. "Good, we have enough fire magicians if that happens." She smiles, adjusting her golden crown of flames.

"Yeah, and my fire's green, just like Luigi's!" Adelenn squeaks, creating a large flame in her hand. However, it was not green.

It was purely black. "Wh-wha?! My fire's not green anymore! It's black!" Adelenn states with a confused look in her eye. "…AWESOME! Mommy, it's a BLACK flame now! I bet this is waaaaay hotter than green fire!"

"Green fire is hotter than white fire, but black fire is the one that consumes all." Vivian whispers, holding only a red flame. "Black Fire is a true sign of the Blackened Blaze Demon Queen. Its flames are the hottest." Marvisshla explains. "Technically speaking, you have the most powerful fire magic out of all of us. How interesting."

"Anyway, after we follow that path, there should be a cave nearby. Inside is the excavation center, and that's where the Dark Moon fragment is, like Lupo said earlier. Once we get it, Link will perform Kaicho and deliver the energy from the Dark Moon fragment into the Crystal Sun. Once we do that, we can go home." Mario explains clearly. "Wait, why Link? What about someone else?" Lupo asks.

"Because nobody here does it better than Link." Marvisshla answers. Although she's learned how to perform Kaicho, She was very poor at it because she did not like to sap life from things. "Link will need time, though. He says he needs a minute of concentration to perform Kaicho effectively. Any faster and he could explode the entire complex and cave us in, leaving us with no energy."

"That's not good." Geno says with honesty. "Well, a minute can't be too bad. We'll be fortunate if we don't run into any bad guys or whatever." Patricia states. "Sool." Soulola agrees, sadly looking out of the window to see Link sleeping. She was sad that he got kicked out of the cabin, and claws out for him. "Ab…sol…"

"We're sleeping for the night?" Geno asks. Almost immediately, everyone yawns. "Sure, we can do that!" Jaraberutzu says, stretching her arms due to being tired. "Yeah, that might be the best thing to do for now." Mario states, looking outside. It was dark outside, and Mario couldn't see a thing.

The heroes all unpack their sleeping bags, and fit into them. Adelenn and Marvisshla were so big that Mario needed to give them extra padding to help them sleep comfortably. "Good night, guys." Mario calls.

"Good night." Vivian and Lupo say in unison.

"Rawr!" Says RAWR.

"Sool!" Says Soulola right after RAWR, and snuggles right up with him.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite 'cuz I heard they're mean!" Adelenn says worriedly, hiding under her blanket. "Hehe, don't worry, Adelenn. I'll make sure they don't bite." Marvisshla smiles, wrapping her arm around Adelenn to comfort her.

"See ya in the morning." Patricia smiles, closing her eyes. "Yeah, what she said." Jaraberutzu follows. Everyone falls into a deep sleep only minutes later.

…Except for Patricia. She walks towards the cupboard and gets another hot chocolate; one that was untouched and is still warm. She quietly tiptoes outside in the blizzard, and looks for Link, who was in the exact same place as before.

"Hey, hun." Patricia says with guilt. "Sorry, I was a little extra-rough with you during our little skit." Link smiles. "Nah, it's okay. You didn't hurt my feelings at all. I mean, it was just a play, right?" He sticks out his tongue. Patricia giggles. "Oh, you goofball. Here, have some hot chocolate. I saved some for you." She hands Link a full glass of hot chocolate. The marshmallows inside of the cup formed the shape of a heart. Link notices this and chuckles happily.

"Thanks, Pat. I love this little heart thing you made. It's cute." He smiles, drinking the hot chocolate. Patricia bends down on her knees and watches as Link finishes it. She couldn't use any other expression than to smile. 'I really thought he was gonna be mad at me. Who am I kidding?' Patricia thinks. 'He's the man with the unbreakable heart of gold. What am I, stupid?'

When Link finishes, he takes a deep breath and exhales. "Wow. That was the best stuff I've had in ages. You're really good at making this stuff, babe." Link smiles. "I've been making the stuff for a while… for a certain event." Patricia's voice lowers slightly as she wipes hot chocolate off of Link's face.

"And what would that be? Your birthday? Anniversary? My birthday?" Link asks. He was unsure about what Patricia was talking about. She shakes her head slowly, maintaining her smile. "No, Link… I just wanted to tell you that we've been together for a long time, and I've been thinking… we should take this relationship to a whole new level." She replies. "Wh-what do you mean?" He asks. He was completely confused.

Suddenly, Patricia grabs Links arms, and looks at him deep in the eyes. She immediately takes off her helmet. With her left hand, she reaches for something behind her. When she takes it out, Link notices that it was a small, blue box. "Hey, neat box you got the-"

Immediately, Patricia silences him with her hand, and slowly opens the blue box. "Link… you're one of the most important people in my life, and I just want to say…"

The contents of the box were a small ring of gold, bearing the herald of the Triforce. Link's heart stopped. "Pat… what's… what's this?"

"…Will you marry me?" She asks with a gleam in her eye.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE END.


	31. 30: 5-1

Chapter Thirty: 5-1

YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 9

'Whoa… Patricia… I thought she wasn't warming up to me to bring herself to do this.' Link thinks. He was still amazed that Patricia was proposing to him. It was so sudden, so unexpected of her. He would've never imagined Patricia going through such a trifling thing.

He didn't know what to say. He was in so much shock from the golden ring. "Wow… Patricia… I… this is serious business here." He states. Patricia nods. "Yes, Link. It is. I know what this means. You know what this means, too. It means that I want to stay with one person for the rest of my life. Someone that loves me, cares for me, and will support me every step of the way…"

"And that has to be you, Link. I love you more than words can describe. You have no idea how much this means to me to give this to you." She states. Link was still flabbergasted, but in the end he smiles. "Heh, I guess I don't." He says. "But no matter what, I'll accept it, Patricia. I'll be with you for the rest of my life. You make my life so much more enjoyable. Without you, life would be a little bit dull. I'm honored to accept your proposal for marriage."

Suddenly, Patricia squeals, and lunges at him. All she does is squeeze him tightly. "Oh my gosh! Thank you, Link! Thank you SO much!" She says into his chest. She was shivering and was about to bring herself to tears. Link takes his hand and pats her head. "You're welcome." He says while receiving a light kiss from Patricia. "You better be the best husband in the world." Patricia grins. Link can't help but smile. "Sure, thing, angel." He says back. "You should get some rest, though. See you in the morning."

SIX HOURS LATER…

This time, Adelenn was the first to wake up. She looks around to see that nobody was awake. "Hmmm? Nobody's awake to make me breakfast…" Adelenn frowns. She was hungry, and her stomach growls loudly. "Hmmm… I'm gonna make some food." She states, awkwardly taking off her dress at the same time. "I'm gonna cook like this so that I don't get my dress dirty."

She then finds a bunch of food inside of the closets. There was a lot of bread, butter and cheese. "Hmmm… I think I can make sandwiches for everybody!" She smiles. She takes a knife, and starts to spread the butter onto the bread. Somehow, she did it perfectly, and without any kind of instruction.

"Yaaay. I did it." Adelenn whispers so that nobody can hear her. Luckily, everyone had earmuffs to help them sleep. With this, she happily continues to make sandwiches for her friends. "Laa dee da dee daaaa! I'm gonna make the best breakfast ever!" She giggles quietly.

Soon, she makes all eleven sandwiches. They were absolutely perfect. There was just the right amount of butter, two slices of cheese, and soft, tasty bread. Adelenn eats hers and gets excited as she eats it. "Mmmmmm! Taastyyyy." She smiles, rubbing her stomach in delight.

But, to her surprise, her stomach didn't rumble. It was the ground.

"That sounded like it came from outside." Adelenn states. She puts her dress back on, and fits it tightly around her. "I better go check it out. It might be something interesting." She walks quickly towards the door and opens it with such carefulness so that she doesn't break it merely from touching it.

More and more, the ground was shaking ever so violently. In fact, it seemed to get worse with each passing second. "Wh-what is that?" Adelenn looks around, but can't find anything.

That is, until a giant explosion occurs right in front of her. "WAAAH!" She screams, flying backwards. Immediately, she extends her wing to stop herself from flying further, and glides back onto the floor, being careful not to use Shift. She was confused. Explosions here were dangerous, so who was using them? Adelenn walks a little more to find out.

There, she sees two Koopas with white shells. They were both wielding large, red bazookas. They had a skull brandished on them, signifying that they were dangerous. "Uh oh! This looks like trouble!" She says to herself, and flies towards the two.

Unfortunately, she grabs their attention quickly due to how well she stands out in the white plains. "Ah, THERE you are." Says the female Koopa. Immediately after, she shoots five rockets at Adelenn. Adelenn dodges them all with ease.

"Whoa! Bad guys! What are you doing here!?" Adelenn asks them. Both of them laugh. "Hehe! Us!? The bad guys!? Well, look at the irony here! You're the one on the wanted list! For a solid bounty of three billion Coins. That could set us up for LIFE!" The male Koopa shouts.

"But I never hurt nobody! Why am I wanted?" She asks herself, putting her finger on her cheek to think. She then jumps to avoid another bazooka. "Heh! We're expert Demon Slayers! We can take you down without any problems!" The Male Koopa says. "Yeah! We slay them, and hang their heads on our wall!" The female one giggles. "WE! ARE!"

"THE RICOCHET REVOLVERS!" They both shout aloud.

Adelenn was not amused, however. These two Koopas seemed dangerous, but their motto was lame. She practically yawns. "Can we… can we just fight so that I can finish eating breakfast?" Adelenn asks. "No way! We're gonna kill you and put an end to your schemes! En garde!" The female Ricochet Revolver charges directly at Adelenn, and comes in with a kick.

However, Adelenn dodges the attack without even moving from her spot. Her hair touches the Koopa, and she starts to feel a burning sensation. "YEOWTCH!" She screams, holding her foot. Adelenn giggles. "Teeheehee! You burned yourself! Buuuuuuuuuurn!" Adelenn squeaks. She ends up receiving another lightning-fast kick from the same Koopa, and falls on her behind because she was unbalanced.

"RRRGH! I'll get you, you jerk!" The Ricochet Revolver yells at her. "Joe! Attack her from behind!" She yells at the Ricochet Revolver Joe. "Sure thing, Anne." He says to the Ricochet Revolver Anne. He flies behind Adelenn quietly as to not get her attention. However, Adelenn's keen sense of hearing allows her to hear the flapping of his wings.

"You guys wanna play dirty, huh? Well then, it's time for me to get in the mud!" Adelenn mutters. She snaps her fingers and her massive scythe appears in her hands. "I'm gonna use my scythe, and I'm gonna beat you with it! Then, you'll cry because you were being booger heads to me and you will be sorry!"

"Do you really think that you can beat us? You haven't even started attacking!" Anne smirks.

"Don't tempt me!" Adelenn replies.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Joe asks. Adelenn crosses her arms and smirks. "Because if you make me attack, you'll be REEEALLY sorry!" She answers back. Joe laughs. He wasn't nervous anymore. "Hahaha! How so? You seem to be awfully slow for someone who's been causing a lot of damage! Well then, here's our little secret, since you'll die out here anyway. We're the fastest beings in this quadrant of the galaxy! There's absolutely no way you can out-speed us!" He states. "Wait, really? Your movements have been really slow to me." Adelenn wonders. "Are you fibbing? Or are you being serious!?"

Joe steps back. "Guh! How fast did you think we were? This is half of our speed, and you think we're slow?" Anne asks. Adelenn nods. "Yup. I'm not even trying and I can keep up with you guys. Maybe it's because you didn't eat your breakfast. I ate some of mine!"

"HEY! That's off topic! We're trying to kill you and all you can think of is breakfast!? How carefree can you be!?" Joe angrily asks. Anne grabs his shoulder. "Stop it. She's trying to get you angry, and you're lowering your guard. Don't fall for it." She exclaims. Joe nods. "Got it. I can't let her beat us."

Without any warning, Joe dashes behind Adelenn to strike with a flurry of punches. Adelenn shifts her head every now and then to avoid getting hit. She still had a lazy eye in her face. After the last punch, Adelenn backflips twice and lands perfectly. "Hehe! You can't hit me! Bleeeeh!" She taunts, sticking her tongue out.

Suddenly, she feels a sharp sting run across her back. It was the sting of a blade, and it had grazed her skin. "Hey! Who's trying to shave my back!? Adelenn turns around to see Anne with a knife coated with poison. The one that struck h

"Wh-what? That… that didn't do anything?" Anne starts to tremble in place. "That poison was meant to paralyze you! How are you still standing after that?!" Adelenn shrugs. "Maybe it's because you missed! Now, I have the chance to attack! Here I goooo!" Adelenn growls, grabbing Anne by the arm. Anne couldn't move because of Adelenn's iron grip.

She then sinks her fangs into Anne's flesh.

A few seconds later, Anne was turning pale. "Wh-what's going on!? I can't feel my legs anymore!" She then falls down, and Adelenn stops biting on her arm. "J…Joe… He…l…p….m…e…" She could barely utter the words of help. She reaches out for Joe, but was slowly deteriorating until she turned into a pure ball of energy. Adelenn unconsciously ate the ball of energy as it floats its way into her throat.

"ANNE!" Joe screams at the top of his lungs, and throws himself onto the floor. Anne had died from a singular bite of Adelenn's fangs. Anne was turned into energy, and was consumed by Adelenn. Even she was in shock, and couldn't move.

"Eh…eh…eh…" Her mouth quivers. She couldn't speak for a moment. "…What have I done…? My teeth… I was only trying to bite her… and she just… poof." She speaks to herself. She then looks at the other Koopa, who was on the floor. When he notices, Joe moves back indefinitely. "You! Get back! Stay away! You're a monster! You just killed Anne! You're not a Demon! You're the devil itself!" He screams, holding onto his Bazooka for dear life.

She then reaches out for him. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" She states. "STAY AWAY FROM ME! YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD! YOU SHOULD JUST DIE! CURL UP IN A BALL AND DIE!" He screams even more, and holds his head. He was petrified of Adelenn.

Adelenn was then brought to tears. There was a mixed jumble of things going on in her head. 'Why did she die? I only bit her! There's no way that can kill someone if I just took a little nibble! How did I do that if I wasn't intending on killing her!?' She thinks, sobbing. 'Is this why nobody likes me? Because I'm so dangerous? That's not very nice, now is it? I was making a mistake! Mistakes happen! Nobody's perfect! I would never try to take away an innocent person's life! She just wanted to make money!'

Suddenly, she feels a pat on her back. It was a familiar, warm pat. She was able to smell who it was.

"…Link?" Adelenn whispers without turning her head. He nods. "Yeah. I saw it, too. I know what happened." He frowns. "You made a big mistake, but don't worry. Everyone makes mistakes, even when their life is being threatened."

She then gives Link a giant hug from where she was sitting. "I'm so sorry, Link! I didn't mean to do it! I just wanted to take a little nibble, and then she disappeared! What did I do?" She asks in confusion while continuing to cry.

"It's the power of those fangs of yours." He replies. "It sounds like your ancestors probably had something like this. Your mother has the same fangs."

"…My family is scary, Link." She frowns, but stops sobbing. Her voice still trembles. "Yeah, I know. Let's go back to the cabin before we wake up anyone."

"But what about the person!? She just-"

Link smirks. "Don't worry. I already got that covered." He states, pointing at the place where Anne had died. A large, Green Mushroom was moving towards the spot slowly, but without stopping. When it reaches the spot, a familiar jingle is heard and it disappears.

Taking its place was Anne.

Her once lifeless eyes sprang back into life, and she was moving easily once again. "AAAAAAAHHH! I DIED!" She screams, holding on to Joe. He was shocked. His friend came back to life right before his very eye. "A-A-Anne!? You… You're alive!" He shouts. "I'm alive? I just died a few seconds ago! Did I… did I just white out or something?"

"Nope." States the voice of Mario. Adelenn and Link look behind them to see the red plumber walking up to them. "You died. But Link found a 1-Up. They're hard to find, but they increase in numbers, as well. You were lucky we found one in this frozen place."

"Mario!" Adelenn squeals. However, Mario gives her an evil glare, and she stops speaking immediately. "M…huh?" She wonders why Mario looked at her like that.

"Sorry, Joe and Anne. I didn't think you moved the barrier to 5-2. I guess we got a little mixed up." Mario apologizes. Link looks at Mario. "They're your friends?" Link asks. Mario shrugs. "I guess you can say that. I've met them before, and they guard this barrier pretty well." He replies. "Sorry about her. She didn't know what she was doing." Link tells the two.

"Not a problem." Anne smiles. "I know that she was just protecting herself. I forgive her. In the meantime, you guys can go ahead. We'll tell nobody that we let you pass."

"Thanks. We'll pass by later. For now, we need to wake everyone up. Come on, guys. Let's go." Mario calls for Link and Adelenn. Link helps Adelenn up by gently grabbing her hand, and she gets up with ease. "Up an' at 'em!" He smiles.

LATER...

The three heroes walk to the front of the cabin, and Link takes a huge breath. "Whew. That was close!" Link says. Adelenn copies him and takes a deep breath herself. "Whew! That WAS close!" She giggles.

Suddenly, Mario grabs her by the collar, and drags her head downward. "Wha!?" She yelps.

"ADELENN." Mario growls. "What is WRONG with you!? You just killed someone innocent! What do you have to say for yourself!?" His voice was loud, and furious. "B-but Mario! I wasn't trying to! I just took a little bite and then-"

"Doesn't matter!" He pulls harder on her collar. "You could have dealt with them in a non-lethal way! Why did you have to bite them!?" He yells again. Adelenn was trying to squirm away, but Mario's grip doesn't allow her to. "But… but… but…" She was about to cry again, but she keeps it in and lets her face redden.

"Mario, calm down! She didn't know what she was doing!" Link yells. Mario shoots a look right at him. "Don't tell me to calm down, Link! You wouldn't understand what it's like to kill an innocent being and how awful it is! She needs to learn that killing is BAD! You comforting her is not going to make it better!"

"Didn't you hear? Adelenn said HERSELF that she's never killed a living soul before Tarin! She doesn't like to kill! All she wanted to do was fight and win!" Link shouts. "Oh, is that what you say whenever you slay someone in Ganon's army? That's practically the same thing!"

"Ganon's army are made of his own blood of flesh. They are sentient beings! They don't have a life!" Link shouts loudly, getting on the defensive. "What Adelenn did was a mistake, I get that! Don't beat her on the head about it! She's just a girl! Lay off, would you!?"

Suddenly, Mario lets go of Adelenn and grabs ahold of Link's collar. "Listen to me, BOY. Man, woman, or child, I do not accept those who would kill. If anyone here has a record of killing innocent beings, I will put them down. Do you hear me?" He growls. Link says nothing, only giving Mario an angry glare.

"I understand you're upset about what happened a few minutes ago. Take your anger on me, but don't take it on her. Because if you end up laying a finger on that woman, we will have a serious issue on our hands. Do you understand ME?" Link grunts, pushing Mario away.

"Geno… Geno… where are you?" Adelenn whimpers, missing Geno's company. As Mario walks back into the cabin, Link sighs, and looks at Adelenn with sympathy. "Geno would know what to do when Mario's angry…" She sniffs.

"Don't mind him too much. We've all done things in the past we're not proud of. Including himself. That's why he takes killing so seriously." Link says. He looks at the ground, and then back at Adelenn. "All of the people in the Super Smash Bros. Guild Hall have something they regret doing. That's why it was made. To fill those regrets with something enjoyable not only for us, but for others as well. Let me tell you some of these things…"

"Captain Falcon regrets ever leaving his home. Kirby is missing a family. The Ice Climbers lost their father and mother. Wario regrets being greedy. Yoshi needs company… it gets worse from there. I regretted lacking the power to protect Malon from Ganondorf. Pikachu regrets abandoning his trainer…"

"Mario's heart aches about killing a green Yoshi, who he desperately tried to keep away from danger." Tears run down Link's face, but his spirit appears unbroken. "We all loved that baby Yoshi. Every single one of us. He would sing and dance, eat cutely, and lift everyone's spirits. But then, something made him go insane. I think Mario called it a Shroob. He turned humongous, and he had started attacking everyone. We were weak at the time, and could barely hold our own against him. We were also confronting a friend, and that's never good for the spirit."

"Then… just when he was about to k-kill Mr. Game and Watch…" His voice quivers. "Mario smashes his skull open, ultimately k-killing the poor thing. There was no way he could live from such a heavy blow." Adelenn's mouth was open in shock. "That… that's so sad." Adelenn says with a large frown.

"And I was partly to blame… I let the Shroob in thinking it was just a friend of Mario's. How stupid I was back then." Link balls up his fists, and they start shaking rapidly. "It's all my fault and nobody said anything about it.

"Anyway, the other guys should be waking up soon. Mario was waking them u-"

"Oh, Liiiiiiiink!" Shouts the voice of Jaraberutzu. Link immediately jolts backward when he hears her voice. "Uh oh! It's the devil herself, trying to make me sell my soul! I better bail, and quick!" Link says to Adelenn, who giggles.

He only turns around to bump right into Marvisshla's large chest. "Ow." Link says, rubbing his head. "Is something wrong, Link?" She asks. Link immediately uses her as cover. "Jara's after me again. Hide me." He smirks, running behind Marvisshla and concealing his mana.

"Quit it, Link. Jara can sense your mana no matter how much you try to conceal it. It has a distinct smell to it." Geno says, yawning in the process. "Oh hey, Geno." Link waves, continuing to hide behind Marvisshla.

While hiding behind her, he notices a large tattoo on her left hand. It was of a skull drawn in a cartoonish way, but with a black, spiky halo resting above it. An arrow pierces through the skull. Link takes her hand to inspect it. "Forgive me, Ms. Boskra, but I can't help but notice this tattoo." Link states. "It's also on the front of your green dress."

"Oh, that. This is of my family insignia. I've had it ever since I was born. It stung for a bit, but eventually it went away. It's pretty gruesome to look at, but this IS the family I came from, no matter how much I hated my parents." She replies. "I've noticed that Adelenn has the insignia of the wrong family across her back. A giant flame… I guess it fits since she's the Demon Queen of the Blackened Blaze."

"Huh, that's strange." Lupo states, suddenly hooked around Geno's neck and smiling. "Wh-where did you come from?" Geno wonders. "The shower, lightweight." Lupo groans. "I should be smelling minty-fresh by now." Geno does not like the smell of mint, and backs away slowly. "Yeaaaaaaah good for you." He smiles nervously.

"Sol." Soulola quietly walks up to Link, and looks up at him. "Hey, baby girl. What's up?" Link smiles, and Soulola smiles back. She stands on her hind legs and reaches for Link. He picks her up because she does this. "You ready to get moving again? I thought you were still sleepy!" Link smiles, only to be licked by Soulola. "Hehe! You so silly!"

"RAWR." Grunts RAWR, looking up at Marvisshla. He was hungry, and Marvisshla could tell this in his eyes. She reaches in her pocket for a slab of meat. She bends down and hands it to her. "Here you go. Adelenn's not ready to take care of you properly, so I'll suffice." Although it may seem cruel, this is how RAWR loves his food best; in slabs of succulent, juicy meat. He smiles and eats it out of her hand in one bite. "Raaawr!" He barks happily.

Vivian, Patricia and Jaraberutzu all come out of the cabin in this order, and sees everyone gathered around in a circle. "What." Patricia lets out. "Indeed." Vivian agrees, nodding her head. "Yup, we're going mad." Jaraberutzu adds.

"Okay, guys. What's the plan?" Mario asks. Link shoots his hands up immediately. "I know! I carry all of the girls so that they can cover more ground for us. If Bowser woke up, he's bound to be looking for us." Link states, but Mario just gives him a glare. "You just want to carry the girls, don't you?" Geno snorts. Link shakes his head. "No, I'm being serious here." He states.

"Even so, there are six girls and Soulola. There's no way you could carry all of us!" Vivian adds. Adelenn laughs loudly. "That's not true! I've seen Link carry a boulder like… like THIS big! And he was using one finger to do it!" She exclaims, making the boulder seem as though it was as large as a skyscraper.

"I say that's a terrible plan, still. Rosalina just wants us to go into the cave, have Link use Kaicho, and get out." Lupo says. Link shrugs. "You guys DO know Mario can use Kaicho as well, right? He's been doing it for way longer than I have!"

"Wait, you have?" Geno asks.

"Wait, I have?" Mario asks in response. Link nods. "Yeah. I've only been practicing for three months. You've been practicing for more than four years!" Link explains. He was right about Mario practicing Kaicho for more than four years, but he had no idea that Link knew that. He wasn't around for that long.

"Cap told me. Says you're pretty good at it." He adds. Of course, Captain Falcon was the one to spread rumors like that. "Oh, that Captain Falcon. He's one of the strongest ones in the guild, yet he still has time to make rumors and speak brail AND emoticons." Mario growls. "Hehe, you have an interesting history." Lupo smiles.

"I bet that's why Mario's so popular! He gets so much praise from his friends!" Adelenn states. "And as friends, we gotta stick together no matter what! So when we go into that cave, we gotta hold hands like real friends should!"

"…Hold hands?" Geno asks. "Why?" Adelenn takes his hand immediately after saying that. "See my hand?" She asks.

"Uh huh." He replies. "See how it feels nice and warm in your hands?" Adelenn asks.

"Uh huh." He replies again. "That's a good feeling, right?" Adelenn shoots him another question.

"Uh huh." He replies yet again. Adelenn gives him a big smile. "That should be the big reason why we should hold hands! Because it gives everyone the nice, warm feeling that they have friends! Friends who love and care for each other!" She explains. "So if you're a REALLY good friend, you'll give off the warmest feelings ever!"

Geno merely stares at her. When he does so, Adelenn takes a nearby stick and attempts to whacks him with it. It breaks before it can even touch Geno. "Listen to your wife. People say the wife knows best." She says, which causes everyone to burst with joyous laughter.

"Sure do." Jaraberutzu smiles. "Even though I've never nagged anyone in my life."

"Heh, you're one to talk. If you're not yapping, you're flirting." Patricia snickers. Jaraberutzu then nudges her in the shoulder. "Oh yeah, Ms. I-nag-Link-all-the-time? As if you never do it! I don't care how rough you can be, you've had to have done it once in your life!" She responds back.

Patricia suddenly grabs Link's arm. "Well, I guess. Things change when you're a married woman, whether they're for better or worse. Right, Link?" She asks, looking right up at Link. "Uhhhh, yeah. I guess." He responds, realizing he just blanked out.

"Wait a minute… Link? You're m-"

"MAKING A ROAD STRAIGHT TO THE 5-2 CAVES. LET'S GO!" He shouts abruptly, stomping his way towards the brick road. He absurdly gestures the other heroes to follow him. "Where is our oh-so-honorable leader? MARIO GET OVER HERE." Link smiles, dragging him to the front. Mario can't help but smile back.

'No wonder you've been in such a good mood lately. You're married now, huh?' Mario thinks. He sees the ring that's on his left ring finger. 'Well, I hope you make the right choices, you dense kid.'

"YOU MAY PASS! COMPLETING THE 5-1 TRIALS HAS GRANTED YOU ACCESS!" Anne and Joe shout simultaneously. They lower their heads and Bazookas and allow them to pass to the road. "…Be careful." Joe whispers.

"Yeah, we'll be careful." Jaraberutzu gives them a thumbs-up. "We're not broken so easily, so you guys don't have to worry too much about us." Geno adds. "Just… don't go into the cabin. Adelenn made a huge mess. It apparently was blood leaking out of somewhere. I wasn't able to tell. I think it was her v-"

"VERY SPECIAL VOIDED EYE!" Patricia immediately punches Geno in the mouth to prevent him from saying something not allow in this story. Good thing she kept track of the foul language for me. I almost slipped up!

"OWWWWWWW." Geno holds his mouth due to the shock of the pain. "You could've taken down a whale with that attack! What kind of monster are you?"

"The kind of monster that cares for her family." Patricia grins, leaving Geno with a grimace.

Soon, the heroes see the mouth of the cave. It was pitch-black from outside, so they couldn't really see anything. It made the Pokémon a little bit nervous, however. Link stares it down as if it were a monster itself.

"Alright, guys. The Dark Moon fragment should be in here. Once we're done in here, we better figure out how to explain the destruction of the car." Link frowns immediately. Adelenn giggles at this. "The car went boom. I don't think we need to explain anymore." Adelenn suggests.

"Good idea. We'll just leave it at that." Lupo agrees. "But besides that, we'll just be swift, okay?" Vivian adds. Everyone nods in agreement.

Suddenly, Mario and Link start holding people's hands. Mario holds Jaraberutzu's and Vivian's hand, while Link holds Adelenn's and Patricia's hand. "What?" She asks, but Link only smirks in response. Soon, everyone was connected by a line.

"Just like Adelenn said. True friends will give nice, warm feelings with their hands." He states. Patricia stares at him for a moment. "…You fall for the cheesiest things, don't you?" She smirks back. Link rubs his nose against hers. "Yep. And that's how I like it."

Everyone was holding hands, and they suddenly let go, and dash into the cave.

"LET'S GO!"


End file.
